Frozen Dreams
by PandaPjays
Summary: When Rei's uncle dies, he inherits Reito Manor, a large estate in Russia. However, he also inherits an evil spirit, and a curse. YAOI
1. Chapter 1

**animeobsession**-Yo. This is animeobsession and PandaPjays.

**PandaPjays**-We were incredibly bored one day and... Here's the result

**animeobsession**- Beware! This will get very, very bad! And nasty.

**PandaPjays**- If you don't like blood stay away!

**animeobsession**- If you don't like yaoi stay away!

**PandaPjays**- If you don't like us, stay away! lol j/k

**animeobsession**- If socks scare you stay away!

**PandaPjays**- If you don't like coffee stay away!

**animeobsession**- If you don't like Beyblade stay away!

**PandaPjays**- If you don't like Beyblade why the hell are you here anyway?

**animeobsession**- If you don't like anime I'll kill you1

**animeobsession**- Disclaimer: We're both broke sob Which means we don't own Beyblade, bugger.

**PandaPjays-** If we did there would be a lot of scenes with Tyson ranting and Rei and Kai making out in the background

**animeobsession**- I have a picture. If you want it, email me (animeobsession) I like my picture. I think it looks good

**PandaPjays**- You should have a look- it's funny as

**animeobsession**- You can expect an update most Saturdays. We write on Friday and Saturday nights.

**PandaPjays**- So we probably should stop ranting and actually let you read huh?

**animeobsession**- On with the fic!

* * *

The room smelt of sulfur. Dark shadows danced on blood red walls, cast there by the light from the fire. In a high backed chair in front of the fire a hunched figure sat, staring into the flames.

The figure sighed and stretched, basking in the flames. He never had acclimatized to the Russian weather and so found that a fire was the only way to stay even remotely warm. He relaxed into the chair again and contented himself with staring at the flames; trying to see pictures in the fiery depths.

He suddenly broke into a coughing fit, which was followed by loud cursing. He looked to the ceiling and growled before looking into the flames.

"I hate you"

The flames flared up at this comment before settling back down into the grate. The man chuckled at this display of defiance. "You aren't free yet." He relaxed into the chair and allowed his feet to be warmed by the fire. "Not yet..."

He coughed again, this time it was harsher. "What am I going to do with you?" he mumbled. "I won't last much longer. And when I am gone, you must be contained. But by who?" He pondered, coughing again.

The flames gave no answer as he stared into them. He hadn't expected them to. It was sad that this was the place that he would spend the last of his days. He closed his eyes, trying to picture himself as he was in his youth, trying to remember the fierce pride he had once held while doing this job but all he could remember were the endless lonely days of an old man.

His thought turned to his family. Once he had a wife, but she had been...taken long before they could even think of having children. He thought even more. He had 3 brothers and 2 sisters that had scattered all over the world. However he had only seen the family of one of his brothers recently. And that was because he wanted to meet his nephew.

Unfortunately his nephew hadn't been with them at the time. He was participating in some sort of sporting tournament. The man couldn't remember what sort of sport it was but he knew that his brother was proud of his son for being in the elite of his sport.

But that had been years ago. The boy would be... how old now? He was 11 when his parents visited, that he could remember. And they had visited about 7 years ago. So the boy would be 18 now. He grinned to himself. Just old enough to inherit. Perfect.

He felt, rather than looked, for the pen that he knew was on the table beside the couch. He found the barrel of it and picked it up, transferring it to his left hand before reaching down once again to find a notepad. Before his task could be passed on he had to at least warn the boy.

He put the nib of his pen against the paper and wrote in curvy writing, _Dear_, then stopped. He found that he couldn't remember his nephew's name. _Oh well. I'll remember it later._ He scrunched up the piece of paper and threw it into the fire. The fire crackled menacingly for a moment, then died down. He chuckled, and then started again. _To my dearest nephew,_ then he paused. What to write next?

He glared at the pen he was holding like it was its fault that he didn't have the words for what he needed to say. He held his pen poised over the paper and tried to force inspiration. He failed miserably.

The fire crackled merrily now. It seemed happy that he couldn't write. He hissed at it and it died down. He looked back to the paper and tried to think. _I am sorry to say that I have never met you. And now, more then ever, I wish I had. I wish…_

He glared at that hateful word. 'Wish'. If wishes were horses beggars would ride. If wishes came true he wouldn't be here. He wouldn't have to be writing this letter. _I wish that you didn't have to read these words but you must. You must read them like I must write them_

_I find that I..._ He paused again. Should he tell the boy what to expect straight away? No. He'd never come to the place if he knew. _I find that I have caught a terrible disease and it means that I will die within the week. _He looked at the words on the page and let out a heavy sigh. The truth hurt.

The flame crackled away, not the least bit upset that its master was withering away before it. Why would it be? It had _caused_ the disease that at this very moment was consuming the old man in front of it from the inside.

_By the time this letter reaches you, I will no doubt have passed on to the next life so with this letter I send my Will._ He looked at the desk and at the papers across it. He knew the Will was in there somewhere. He just wasn't too sure as to where.

Bracing himself, he stood up and began to make his way over to the desk. He needed to find that Will. If he didn't the flame would win. If he didn't he would not be the only one to be struck down by it. Even though he had been trapped in this house for so many years he could not bring himself to leave his duties. He had a responsibility that he needed to fulfill.

He searched through the papers. He wasn't sure what half of them were, they just somehow ended up on his desk. He sighed angrily at the papers and randomly grabbed one. Which just so happened to be the Will. _Finally!_ He thought. _Now to finish off the letter._

He made his way back to his chair and sank down into the cushions before sitting up and taking hold of his pen again. _As you will see I have left all of my possessions to you and you alone. You may not realize it now but it is an enormous responsibility on your part. I dare not say any more in this letter because I do not wish this information to be seen by anyone else but you. Instead you can find the answers to your questions by_

_Searching the many halls and rooms, both physically at the manor, and mentally  
You will find what you seek in the room with the candle watched over by your ancestors  
The fire within is not what you seek but the light without.  
It will illuminate your way where the flame cannot_

He sighed as he finished off his instructions. He knew that they would be near impossible to decipher but it was the only hope that he had of telling his nephew about the legacy he'd inherited. If he wrote anything too plainly _it_ would have prevented the letter from leaving the house. It was better for the boy to have some clue rather than no clue at all.

Rubbing his temples, he tried to think of the name of the boy, soon to be man, which he was leaving everything to. It had something to do with the name of the manor too, but what he couldn't seem to remember.

He sighed and relaxed in his chair, glaring at the fire crackling merrily in the grate. "This is your fault, you know. If I hadn't had to look after you I would have been able to spend more time with my family. And then I would know who he is." The man folded his arms and continued to glare. _But then again, if I didn't have to look after it I wouldn't be sending this letter_

He sighed heavily and looked deeper into the flames. "Reito Manor...the Frozen Manor...Reito...Rei...REI!"

He smiled in pure delight as he remembered his nephew's name. The fire hadn't taken everything from him. Almost everything, yes, but not everything. He positioned his pen over the paper and began to write again. _I know that this seems confusing, Rei, but I can only hope that you will understand it sooner rather than later._

_I ask that you come to Reito Manor as soon as you can after receiving this letter. It is extremely important._ He looked to the flames that danced behind the grate. Was it just him or were they getting brighter? He shook his head and looked over his letter.

He couldn't think of anything else to write so at the end of his letter he simply wrote Your Loving Uncle, Vladimir. He sighed as he read over what he had written. It wasn't much, but it would have to do.

He smiled at the fire. "It looks like you lost your chance."

The fire flared at this, making Vladimir chuckle. "You may have gotten the better of me but that won't buy your freedom"

He looked up the ceiling, and to the shadows that danced across it. "You will have a new master now. And I wish him luck."

Looking down again, he murmured, "I wish him all the luck in the world." He placed the letter into an envelope and began writing another letter to his nephew. This was the letter that would explain the true significance of his inheritance. This was the letter he was unable to send.

------

_1 week later_

"REI! Ya got mail, buddy"

"Really! What does it look like?"

"Well, it doesn't look like fan mail. Or a bill."

Rei Kon walked into the room and took the envelope from Tyson. "Thank God for that. I'm broke." He studied the envelope but couldn't recognize the handwriting on the front. "I wonder who it's from?"

He sat down on the couch and opened the envelope. Two pieces of paper sat snugly in it. Pulling out the first one he started reading, brows creasing in confusion, before his eyes widened and he started to pale. Sitting on a couch across from him was Max. Kai was sitting next to him. Kenny was somewhere else in the house and Tyson had just collapsed next to Max.

Tyson leaned forward. "What's wrong Rei?" He asked, a faint tremor in his voice. His Chinese friend hardly ever looked ruffled, let alone sacred. Whatever was in that letter had to be bad news.

"I...I just found out that I have another uncle."

The others looked at him in shock. "Really? That's great!" Max told him, breaking the silence.

"It would be great but...he...he's dead or nearly dead." Rei said, looking up at the people surrounding him.

"What? How on Earth could you know something like that? " Tyson asked him incredulously, before he remembered the letter in Rei's hand. "Oh, does that letter say so?"

Rei nodded mutely before setting the offending pieces of paper on the table.

He pulled the other piece of paper out. It was an official looking document. "What's that Rei?" Max asked, leaning forward to try and get a look at the paper. "A Will." Rei said simply.

"Why would an uncle you've never heard of send you his Will?"

The neko-jin shrugged as he scanned the document. "How would I know?"

"What's his name? And what did he leave ya?" Tyson asked. Max elbowed him in the ribs.

"His name was Vladimir Kon. And it looks like he left me practically everything he owned." His eyes widened as he read further down the list. "Including his home, Reito Manor."

Tyson's eyes widened. "Reito Manor? Rei-to…" He burst out laughing. "That's classic! Look, next time that you try to fool us please try and think of a more original manor name. You really had me going you a while."

"I'm serious."

"That was really go- huh?"

"Reito Manor. Now where have I heard that before?" Kai said. The other looked at him in shock.

"Holy cow! Kai said a sentence!" Tyson said pointing at Kai. Kai ignored him.

"It says here that the Manor is in Russia, so you might have seen it. After all, you did grow up there."

"Hn. I know it's more than that though." The Russian frowned in thought, before shrugging. "I can't think of what though. It's probably not that important anyway. So what are you going to do with it? Sell it?"

"He asked me to go to the house first. As for selling it...I don't know. I might keep it. It would be nice to have somewhere I can go."

"What? You don't need somewhere to go!" Tyson told him indignantly. "You can just stay here! It's not like we don't have the space. Not since…" Tyson trailed off. His Grandfather's death was still a touchy subject for him.

"It's not that I don't like it here Tyson. Far from it, I love it here. But by the looks of things the Reito Manor has been in the family for generations. I'd like to be able to live in a house where my ancestors have lived. I mean, the dojo has been in your family for years, so it's more special for you. This estate belongs to the Kon's. It's special for me. Besides, I can probably keep it and stay here. Use it as a holiday home or something."

"But you didn't even know it existed until today. How can it be special to you? You haven't even seen it. And how often are you going to go on a holiday to Russia anyway? Can you even speak Russian for that matter?"

"No, I cant speak Russian. And I doubt that I'll be holidaying there much. And I haven't seen it. But I feel that I'll want to stay there. I'm going to go anyway, even if it's just to see what its like."

"But why?"

"Because I do ok? Anyway, you're all welcome to come." Rei said looking around the room at all of them, his gaze lingering on the slate haired boy sitting beside him. He caught himself staring and quickly turned his gaze back to the Will. "It says here that it's near Moscow, so it'd be just like old times."

"Hey! We should invite some of the other teams! If that's ok with you Rei?" Max said, starting to become hyper at the thought of a party.

Rei sighed. He used to think that growing up meant that you become mature. In Max's case that was obviously a misnomer. "Yeah, sure. I just hope that there's enough rooms."

"It's a _manor_ of course there'll be enough rooms."

"Ok. Who should we invite guys?" Max said, literally bouncing in his seat. Tyson was watching him out of the corner of his eye, a blush steadily coloring his cheeks.

Rei stood up abruptly. "I don't care who you invite. I'm going to arrange our flights ok?" Saying that he left the room.

Tyson stared after the neko-jin. "What's up with him?"

Max shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with that letter?" He leaned forward to snatch it off the table only to be stopped by a hand gripping his arm. He looked up and met cold crimson eyes.

"Don't you know it's not polite to read someone else's mail?"

"Oh. Sorry. My bad." Max said. "C'mon Tyson. Lets go get some sugar, then think about who to invite!" Max said, dragging Tyson out of the room. That left Kai. And the letter.

Kai sat with his arms crossed and his eyes closed. He opened one only a crack. The letter was sitting innocently on the table. He closed his eye and shook his head. _Not polite. Don't do it._

His hand involuntarily reached toward the letter. He snatched it away quickly. He couldn't do that to Rei. The Chinese boy needed to have some degree of privacy. _If he wanted that with his letter he would have taken it with him_, his inner voice reasoned.

_But it's to him ONLY._ He argued back. _You're his captain. You need to know about your team. That includes their feelings._ Damn. His inner voice was using rank again.

Kai guiltily looked around before picking up the letter and scanning its contents. He frowned as he finished reading it. What was this Vladimir guy going on about? And now he expected Rei to inherit his house? Who knew what was there? And why did Reito Manor sound so familiar?

Kai sighed and replaced the letter on the table. _I guess I'm going to find out.

* * *

_Please tell us what you think.


	2. Chapter 2

**PandaPjays:** Heya, sorry for the late update but this chapter is -huge-

**animeobsession:** No joke. We spent Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday AND Wednesday writing it.

**PandaPjays:** And we still haven't gotten where we wanted to go

**animeobsession:** -sob- The next chapter should be up a little faster then this one. Hopefully.

**PandaPjays:** That is, unless the end of the world happens and my coffee runs out

**animeobsession:** We're currently sitting in the gutter, while drinking coffee and eating KitKats. That means that we're getting many good ideas. And THAT means that the next chapter should be a doozy!

**PandaPjays:** Oh and also- I LOVE REVIEWS

**animeobsession:** Disclaimer: We're sitting in the gutter. If we owned Beyblade we wouldnt be sitting in the gutter. Therefore, we dont own Beyblade.

**PandaPjays:** So that means I can't have both a gutter-mind and have a certificate saying "Congratulations- you own Beyblade!"?

**animeobsession:** Yes

**PandaPjays:** OoO. That's nasty- makes sense though.

**animeobsession:** I'm making sense now?

**PandaPjays:** You always make sense- the rest of the world sees it differently though...

**animeobsession:** True true

**PandaPjays:** Gonna reply to reviews?

**animeobsession: **Yes.

**animeobsession: **_native-kitten-_ You were the first reviewer! KitKats for you!

**PandaPjays: **_MoonWarrior12_- I'm glad you think it's good! -bows- enjoy the next chapter!

**animeobsession: **_VGMaster04-_Nice to know its interesting. Thank you!

**PandaPjays:** _Lainyisme-_ -whaps you over head- -grins- that was fun ; Hope you like this chapter- it has Tala and caffeine references

**animeobsession:** _lady-nikki-_ Are you being sarcastic? And the fire isn't the only psycho/demented thing in the house! grins

**PandaPjays:** _DemonicStormFox-_ Glad that you think it's interesting! I love your name btw

**animeobsession:** _keisan-_ We have a lot in store. It's gonna be HUGE!

**PandaPjays:** _Echo in the Dark-_ YAY! Your review really made me smile! I hope that you enjoy this chapter!

**animeobsession:** _tntiggris-_ There is nothing wrong with being hyper! I personally tend to be hyper all the time! Gets out bag of sugar. Starts eating it Good to see you like the story!

**PandaPjays:** _Kuroi Kitty-_ Thanks for the review! Have a KitKat! -Hands you one-

**animeobsession:** _baby sweet_- Guess what! I think you like our fic, ne? big grin Have some sugar! And enjoy the next chapter!

**PandaPjays:** ...and that's it!

**animeobsession:** We hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

The phone rang. One ring. Two. Three. "Hello?" 

"HI!" Tyson's voice came out as a squeak. He still didn't understand why but hearing Tala's voice still scared the living Bejesus out of him. It was strange, considering that he now considered Tala to be a good friend. "How are you?"

"Oh hey Tyson! I'm good how are you?" Tyson sighed, loudly.

"I've been better. Kai is putting Max and I on a sugar ban."

For a few moments there was silence, then Tala started laughing.

"About time! I was wondering when he'd get sick of you two running around like maniacs!"

Tyson growled under his breath. "We don't run around like maniacs! We just get a little bit... spirited."

"Yeah, sure. And I'm Julie Andrews."

"Better start singing about climbing Ev'ry Mountain then, nun-boy"

"I'm not a goat!"

Tyson sweat dropped. "Right. Anywho, I have a proposition for you."

"Tyson, do you even know what that means?"

"No."

Tala sighed. "What do you want?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean what do you want? I don't think I can simplify it any further for you."

"HEY! It's not my fault! My brain is starved! I need food."

"How long has it been since you last ate?"

"About an hour."

"New record for you."

"HEY!" Tyson grumbled under his breath as Tala chuckled.

"You live in Russia don't you Tala? With the other Blitzkrieg Boys?"

"Last time I checked, yes."

"Stop being a smart ass. It's just..."

"Yes?"

"Well. First, have you ever heard of Reito Manor?"

"The name sounds familiar. I don't know why though. Why do you ask?"

"Rei just inherited it and we wanted to have a housewarming party."

"_Rei_ inherited _Rei_to Manor." Tala chuckled down the phone line. "That's priceless! I'd love to come! I'll drag everyone else along too who else is coming?"

"Well so far we've got the PPB All-stars, Majestics and White Tigers. We still got to call a couple of the other teams."

"You're joking! You didn't invite that annoying kid with the huge hair did you? What's his name? Starts with J..."

"Johnny?"

"Yeah!"

"I thought redheads were supposed to stick together?"

"That's blondes. And they only need to stick together because they need the collective brain cells."

Max who until then had been silent on the extension yelled down the phone line "HEY! I HAPPEN TO BE BLONDE YOU KNOW!"

"See my point?"

"That was cruel, Tala, even for you." Tyson told him, admonishingly.

"It's spending far too much time with Bryan. He's corrupted me"

"Are you sure it isn't the other way around?" Max asked.

"No, I've corrupted him."

"Bryan, put down the extension, and go and do something else."

"How's about no, Blondie!"

"YOU'RE MEAN!" The sound of the phone slamming onto the receiver echoed in three separate earpieces

"That was pretty mean Bry."

Tyson and Tala heard a snicker come from the lavender haired blader. "But it was _fun_"

Tala sighed. "Only you could think that was fun, Bry. Now go sharpen your collection of knives or something. Tyson and I were talking before you picked up the extension."

"But I- fine" Bryan sighed and grumbled something in Russian before putting the phone down. Tyson heard Tala's fingers cover the receiver and a muffled "WHAT DID YOU SAY?" before Tala put the phone to his ear again. "Anyway, what were we talking about?"

"Bryan has a knife collection?"

"If I said yes, would you scream like a girl?"

"No."

"Damn it. Well he does. Now back on topic."

"Uh... right... Well that was pretty much all I wanted to ask you- if you would come and stay. Tell Bryan that no knives or weapons in general are allowed, ok?"

Tala laughed at that. "You obviously don't know Bry that well, he can turn _anything_ into a weapon."

"I'm thinking odd thoughts here."

"I don't want to know what you're thinking about. Neither does the rest of the world."

"Was that an insult?"

"Just may... BRYAN! LET GO OF IAN! NO! DON'T DO THA- BRYAN! STOP IT NOW! BRY- NO! BRYAN!"

"What's happening? Huh?"

"Look, I have to go... BRYAN PUT IAN DOWN! I'll talk to you later ok? DO I HAVE TO COME OVER THERE?"

"Ok. See ya Tala!"

"BRYAN! Bye Tyson! PUT HIM DOWN! FLOOR DOWN NOT WINDOW DOWN YOU -" And Tyson hung up.

Tyson stared at the phone for a second. He did not even want to know what was going on over there. He had enough to worry about without an insane, homicidal Bryan to look after. He didn't know how Tala managed to do it.

Rei wandered into the room. "So who's coming?"

"So far? Um...PPB All-stars, Majestics, White Tigers and the Blitzkrieg Boys. But they might be down a person."

"Why?"

"Last I heard, which was just then, Bryan was trying to kill Ian."

"Oh."

The neko-jin sighed and walked into the kitchen, the letter from his uncle still on his mind. What had possessed him to give everything to a nephew he'd never met? Rei sighed. Why him?

He would have expected the house to be passed on to one of his uncles. But no, it was given to him. By an uncle he had never even seen.

_But then again, when has life ever made sense?_ He reminded himself as he rummaged around in the cupboards for food. But still, he couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that had been growing in the pit of his stomach since he had opened the letter.

_Meanwhile with Kai_

Kai stood in the shower, currently washing the shampoo out of his hair. Again, his thoughts turned to the raven-haired teen. A fallen angel. Hopefully **HIS** fallen angel.

As he watched the last of the white foam go down the drain he sighed. It didn't even do to entertain those thoughts. He reached for the conditioner, thinking like that would only lead to heartbreak.

_Besides, Rei doesn't like guys. He likes the pink blob._ He shuddered. Not a nice thought.

Kai tilted his head and allowed the water to massage his neck. It didn't hurt to pretend though, did it? Not if he never let on?

He remembered their battle during the last championships. It had been a long time since he'd had a fight like that. Rei was even stronger then Tala. Speaking of the redhead, he had something that he could use on Kai. During the last championships, Kai had gotten very drunk and had told Tala that he liked Rei. Bad move. When Tala wasn't being a cold bastard, he was matchmaking.

Kai sighed and leaned against the wall, enjoying the duel sensation of cold tile on his back and warm water on his front. He just had to find some ingenious way to keep the redhead silent. He wasn't sure how though.

How to keep the redhead silent...he could always threaten to do something to Bryan, (it was common knowledge that the two were going out.) but Bryan could probably give him more injuries then he could give Bryan.

That plan was out the window. What else could he do? Kai sighed in frustration. He couldn't think of anything. As far as he knew Tala had nothing that was open for blackmail.

"Damn it." He muttered. Oh well. What were the chances of meeting up with Tala again anytime soon?

A loud banging on the door interrupted his train of thought.

"KAI! SOME OF US WOULD LIKE A HOT SHOWER YOU KNOW!"

Kai cringed. Why did Tyson have to be so... Tyson-like?

"HOLD YA FRIGGEN HORSES!" Kai yelled at Tyson. He got out of the shower and grabbed a towel, wrapping it around his waist.

"I DON'T HAVE ANY HORSES TO HOLD! WHY DO YOU HAVE TO TAKE SO LONG ANYWAY?"

"BECAUSE I WANT TO! UNLIKE YOU I ACTUALLY BATHE!"

"WHY DO YOU THINK I WANT THE SHOWER?"

"TO GET ME OUT OF IT!"

Kai slammed the door open, giving Tyson his worst death glare. Tyson shook a little in fear, but soon glared back. Or attempted to. "You need to work on your glare Tyson." Kai said, brushing past Tyson and heading down the hall to his room.

Tyson glared after him before stalking into the bathroom. He'd thought that inviting Kai to live in the dojo with everyone might have stopped them from fighting all the time. Obviously he'd been wrong. "Bloody, self-centered Russian" He grumbled to himself as he searched for his toothbrush.

Kai stormed down the hall to his room, not caring who he bumped on the way. Which meant Max had nearly been pushed into the wall. Thankfully he had edged around Kai and then had run. Rei, however, had just stepped out of the kitchen (it was near the bedrooms for Tyson) and hadn't had any warning. Which meant that both he and Kai fell to the floor. And when he raised his head he found that he had quite a good view up Kais towel.

Rei looked down at the floor and began to study the carpet; he'd never realized quite how many shades of green were in it. His face felt like fire and he knew that it was turning a very interesting shade of red.

Kai groaned from his position on the floor. "Watch where you're going, will you?" He looked down at the person who'd knocked him over. "Oh... Hi Rei."

Rei looked up, and then looked higher so he was looking at Kais face.

"Kai, can you...do me a favor?"

Kai looked puzzled. "Depends. What's the favor?"

Rei blushed heavily. "Could you...um...lower your knees."

Again, Kai looked puzzled, until he realized what Rei was asking. "Oh shit! Sorry!"

Kai sat up; making sure that his towel was covering him in a semi-decent fashion. "Sorry, I was having a shower and then I had to get out and… Yeah." he trailed off.

Rei gave the Russian a half-smile. "It's ok." He could still feel the livid blush on his face. He didn't think it was going to go away anytime soon.

They sat on the floor in the hall, in an awkward silence, before Kai picked himself up off the floor and held his hand out to Rei. Rei took his hand, looking anywhere but at Kai's towel. Probably because the join had opened a little.

"Oh... you dropped you're... Kit Kat?" Kai asked him as he bent down to pick up the fallen food.

Rei gave an awkward laugh, still trying to avoid looking at Kai's towel, which had risen when the Russian had bent down. "Yeah... it's cappuccino flavored- they're addictive, really"

Kai raised an eyebrow. "Since when have we had them in the dojo?" "The Chief bought them. He thought they had caffeine in them, so he could stay awake when he was working on our blades. Turns out they have no caffeine. He was heartbroken."

Kai rolled his eyes. "Why can't he drink coffee to get his caffeine hit like the rest of us?"

Rei shrugged. "I don't know." He took a bite of the sweet, chocolaty goodness. "I'm not complaining, though."

"So you've developed a caffeine addiction."

"As I said, has no caffeine. Therefore, can't be a caffeine addiction."

"Fine. You have a coffee flavor addiction."

"Or just a Kit Kat addiction."

"Or just a Kit Kat addiction."

Rei broke off the end of the Kit Kat he was holding. "You want some?"

Rei was obviously expecting Kai to take the chocolate with his hand. He wasn't expecting Kai to use his mouth. Which is why he was shocked when he found Kais lips around the tips of his fingers.

Kai straightened and arched an eyebrow when he caught sight of Rei's face. He chewed and swallowed the treat before answering the silent question in the neko-jin's eyes. "My towel was falling off and I needed my hands to hold it there or I would have done a Full Monty."

"Oh..." _Wait... why'd he need two hands to hold up his towel? It can't be that heavy can it?_

Kai carefully kept his face emotionless while inside his mind he was doing a happy dance. _I can't believe I just did that! I got Rei to blush! He looks so cute when he blushes! Did I just think the word -cute-?_

Meanwhile, Rei felt his face blaze for the second time on a Kai-related matter.

"Well, I'm gonna go get changed." Kai gently walked past Rei and started heading down the hall. Then he stopped and looked over his shoulder.

"Oh and Rei? Can you get me one of those Kit Kats? They taste nice." Then he kept walking, unaware that Reis eyes were practically glued to his backside, his blush stronger then ever.

­_------_

"TYSON! TELL ME WHO YOU INVITED!"

"I'll tell you when we get there!"

"Need I remind you that it's my house?"

"Need I remind you that I don't care? I'm not telling you... Uh... how do we get there?"

Rei sighed and looked around the Moscow airport. "Catch a taxi... I guess... I wish all the signs weren't in Russian- do you know where our bags are?"

"Its this way." Kai said, walking off to the right.

"How do you know?"

"In case you forgot, I'm Russian. I think I know Russian."

"Oh."

Rei began to follow Kai through the maze otherwise known as the airport. "Kai! Wait up!" Kai kept on walking at the same speed, weaving between people like he'd been doing it all his life. "KAI!" Rei tried to take another step forward but ended up tripping over his own feet. He hit the floor with a dull thud. "Ouch"

Rei felt something bash into his side and heard a 'WOAH!' Before a large weight landed on his back. He looked over his shoulder to see..."LEE!"

"Hey! Didn't expect to see you here. You and the floor getting acquainted?"

Rei growled. "Yes, we're best buddies, now will you get off me?"

Lee realized that he was sitting on Rei's back. "Oh! Sorry!"

Lee rolled off and stood up, holding out a hand to help Rei up. Rei grabbed his hand and dragged himself up, brushing off his clothes before giving Lee a hug. "It's good to see you again." Lee quickly caught on to the low growling behind him and looked over his shoulder. "Good to see you too Kai."

Kai answered by giving Lee a death glare. "Hn."

Lee's eyes widened and he involuntarily took a back step. _Guess someone got up on the wrong side of the bed._

"Man Kai, what's wrong with you? You seem grumpier then usual."

"Shut it, short and evil."

"Hey!"

Kevin, along with Gary and Mariah, had wandered over to the two boys, confused as to why Lee and disappeared in a crowd that he was fairly noticeable in.

"REI! How are you? I haven't seen you in ages!" Mariah sidled up next to the other neko-jin.

"Uh... hi Mariah." Rei mentally suppressed a groan. This was going to be a _long_ holiday.

_Stupid Tyson._ Rei put on an obviously fake smile.

"Hey Mariah. I'm fine, how are you?"

The other boys shuddered. Even her aura of evil pinkness was horrifying.

"I'm great! Thanks for asking!" Mariah sidled even closer to Rei.

"Uh... HEY! LOOK TYSON!" Rei said desperately, dashing away from Her Pinkness to join the other boy who was looking around forlornly for his bags.

"What? What are we looking at?" Tyson said, looking around then trying to look at his back, leading him to run in circles.

Rei mentally hit himself on the head. "Nothing Tyson. Stop spinning would you? You're making me dizzy."

"Oh, sorry." The Japanese boy stopped moving and looked sheepish before falling over. Max, who had been standing next to Tyson, started laughing.

"Maxie, why is the world spinning?" Tyson asked from his position on the ground.

"Because you are an idiot." Kai told him, sharply.

"Ne, you're not Maxie! You're an evil monster from beyond the frozen grave! You're one of THEM" Tyson pointed an accusing finger at Kai.

Kai simply blinked, and moved his foot so it rested over Tyson's crotch. Tyson whimpered. Kai gave the Japanese boy a sickeningly sweet smile.

"Lets all stay calm and quiet, shall we?" he said, adding a little pressure to Tyson's crotch.

Tyson whimpered and looked at Kai with pleading eyes. "You wouldn't, would you?"

Kai added more pressure. "I _would_"

"I'll be good." Tyson told him in a voice slightly higher than his normal one.

Kai nodded to himself and took his foot off Tyson. He turned back to the group and noticed how most of the guys had closed their legs or slightly crossed them. He smirked.

"It's not like he has anything there in the first place."

"HEY!"

"What was that about being quiet like a good little boy?"

Tyson gulped and shut his mouth quickly.

"What's this I hear about Tyson having no balls?"

The group turned, only to face the All Starz.

Max's eyes lit up, then his forehead scrunched up in confusion.

"Where's Mum?"

"Judy? She's sick. Was really upset that she couldn't come." Michael said. "Asked me to give you this." He passed Max a letter.

"Thank you."

Max quickly scanned the letter and shoved it into his pocket. "She has the flu? Hasn't she invented a cure for that yet?"

"Nah. Emily here has been trying. And failing dismally." Eddy said, sending the redheaded nerd a smug look.

Emily stuck her tongue out at Eddy. "Just because you can't tell a virus from a Beyblade doesn't mean the rest of us have to be ignorant"

"HEY! I can so tell a virus from a Beyblade."

"Sure ya can, Eddy. Sure ya can." Tyson said.

"Shut up, no balls!"

"As much as I love listening to Tyson being insulted I don't think that we should keep standing around here- we're getting in the way. Let's go get our bags." Lee suggested before looking around. "Uh... where are our bags?"

Kai sighed. "Follow me."

Thethree teams followed Kai down the hall, turning every now and then before they reached the baggage claim and saw some very familiar hair.

"HOLY COW! JOHNNY HAS BLOODY HUGE HAIR!" Tyson said, pointing at the Scot.

Johnny turned and pointed at Tyson, "HOLY COW! TYSON IS A BOTTOMLESS PIT WHO NEEDS TO KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT!"

Tyson shut his mouth abruptly and glared at Johnny. "That was uncalled for."

"Tyson? Remember that conversation we had about you keeping quiet?"

"Yes Kai."

"Johnny, stop being uncouth," Robert said, glaring at the fiery Scot. Johnny scowled.

"I'll uncouth _you_ one day." He muttered, under his breath.

"Hello, I apologize for his behavior. How are you all?"

Kai grunted and brushed past Robert to reach his bag.

"Still as articulate as ever I see, Kai."

Rei smiled at the exchange before finding himself on the receiving end of a glomp.

"CONGRATULATIONS ON GETTING THE HOUSE!"

"Thanks Oliver. Can you please stop choking me?"

"Oh, sorry Rei."

"It's fine... Hey. Where's the hat we all know and love?"

Oliver's eyes widened and he patted his head sadly. "Robert said it was uncouth wearing a hat indoors."

"It is. Which is why Tyson should take his ridiculous hat off."

Tyson clutched his hat.

"NEVER! I don't care how uncouth it is!"

"Hey, where's Enrique?" Max asked suddenly, looking around for the other blonde.

Oliver gestured to a crowd of girls nearby. "Where do you think?"

Kai and Rei both shuddered. _Fan girls._

"What's wrong Rei? Are you feeling ok? You look a little pale. Do you want a drink? Are you hungry? Do you need a hug? I'll gladly help you if that's the case!"

"NO! I mean," Rei coughed. "I'm fine Mariah."

"Oh." Mariah looked crestfallen. She flicked her bright pink hair over her shoulder before giving Rei a dazzling smile. "Well, if you need anything you know where to find me!" She said before sauntering off to find Emily.

_It's not like he'd have to look far_, Kai thought watching her hair bounce making her look like a giant pink pom-pom.

Rei shuddered again.

"Lee, how can you stand being around her for so long?"

"She IS my sister Rei. I _have_ to deal with her. I didn't even get a choice in the matter."

Lee buried his face in his hands and let out loud, and obviously fake, sobs. Kevin patted his back sympathetically.

A loud rumble made the group stop talking and collectively look at Tyson. "I'm hungry!" He whined. "Can we have our catch-up session somewhere where there's food?"

Kai considered his options for a moment. _I could make him suffer... -or- I could give him what he wants... tough decision this_

Noticing Kais pondering look, even though it was only shown in his eyes, Rei giggled.

"Kai, if he doesn't get food he'll annoy _everyone_. That includes you." He whispered into Kais ear.

That got through to the Russian phoenix.

Kai quickly looked around, tried to count the number of people in the room and gave up, deciding he could afford it anyway. "Ok, if you all get you're bags now, we can go and buy some food. I'll pay." He shot a swift look at Rei before whispering back to him. "Happy?"

Rei grinned, his fangs poking out over his lip.

"Very."

He walked over to get his bag from the belt as he spotted it and dragged it off. He also dragged off Kais and waved him over. "Got your bag for you."

Kai gave Rei a VERY small smile and murmured a light "Thanks." Rei wouldn't have heard it if he didn't have his neko hearing. Something that Kai was thankful for.

Tyson stood in front of Kai with his bag held up proudly. "Feed me?"

Kai looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "I said everyone."

Tyson's eyes widened and he dropped his bag to go hurry the rest of the group to get their bags and go.

Kai shook his head.

"As soon as I get the chance I'm having histhree extra stomachs removed."

"Kai! Stop calling Tyson a cow! And he only hastwo stomachs, for your information." Max said, glaring playfully at Kai.

Kai looked back at Tyson who had managed to get everyone to line up.

"Ok troops! MARCH!" The midnight-blue haired blader called down the line "LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT!"

"I never thought I'd say this, but I'm impressed." Kai said raising an eyebrow at the people Tyson was herding.

Tyson winked at Kai. "I learned from the best, Sensei Slave-Driver."

Kai raised both eyebrows.

"You learnt something? I didn't know people who didn't have brains could learn."

Tyson grinned, though everyone could see anger in his eyes.

"Who needs a brain when you have a peanut!"

Kai lowered one eyebrow.

"I thought you ate it."

"Means I have a crumb!"

Kai frowned. "I'm not even going to waste my time trying to understand you're logic- it doesn't represent our Earth-logic anyway."

"Like you're an expert on that, Kai"

"I know enough to know that if you keep on annoying me you'll become a eunuch- if you aren't one already- and I won't buy you lunch."

Tyson gulped visibly and backed away from the Russian. It wasn't nice to joke about those things.

"OI! Are you two going to stand there all day? I don't know about you but I'm hungry!" Max called out.

Tyson smirked at Kai. "Last one there is a shellfish!"

With that, Tyson ran after the blonde. Kai watched the other boy and blinked. _A shellfish? Whatever happened to the classic rotten egg?_

"KAI! Hurry up! Your money will be needed!"

* * *

Please Tell us what you think!


	3. Chapter 3

**PandaPjays: **Heya again! We've written another monster of a chapter for your reading pleasure

**animeobsession: **Sorry it wasnt up on Saturday, but its really good, and really long!

**PandaPjays: **-really- -REALLY- long

**animeobsession: **Now, replies!

PandaPjays: _Prozacfairy_- Yes, Rei and Kai are cute together! And no, Tyson and Kai will never see eye to eye, whether that is because they don't really mix well or because of the height difference is debatable though. 

**animeobsession: **_lainyisme_- There is nothing wrong with having a guttermind! Or a sewermind, whatever. Aww poor Tala. picks Tala up We'll keep him here. You can pick him up in your next review.

**PandaPjays**: _VGMaster04_- I'm glad that you liked the chapter and here's your update!

**animeobsession: **_BloodyShadows_- We have a lot planned for the mansion. Believe me. Or go there yourself.

**PandaPjays**: _Mei Kimari_- Yeah, I know. It's just that every now and again one of us has an idea and we get I dragged off topic- hence the humor. And anyway, it'd be kind of unreadable (in my opinion anyway) if it was just straight horror and no comic relief

**animeobsession: **_Lady-Nikki_- I worry, Mariah will die. Slowly and painfully….

**PandaPjays: **_Echo in the Dark_- Thanks! I'm glad that you like it! Yes, I don't really get the logic of TyKa either. Also don't destroy the world. If you did then I wouldn't have coffee and that would be awful

**animeobsession: **keisan- There are several reasons why we are overdoing uncouth. One is because a friend and I at school are aiming to say uncouth 1000 times in one day. So far the highest is 805 I think. Nice to see you like the fic!

**PandaPjays: **riverrae- lol thankies and Here's the update that you have been bugging me about. Yes, The pink Menace will die- it will be good. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

**animeobsession: **_ChaosOverRide_- Cool name. This is the first Beyblade fanfic you've read? Good to see you're starting somewhere good! I also recommend Innocence by PandaPjays and Illawarra Lovin by animeobsession. Both are very good. hugs back Enjoy! And wake your mum up more!

**PandaPjays:** _Dvlsadvocate_- lol. Tala is in it. He's a tad... eccentric but he is there. I'm glad that you like it and please enjoy this chapter 

**animeobsession: **Hooray for KaiRei!

**PandaPjays: **And may you enjoy the next chapter

* * *

"That food was mighty spicy!" Tyson exclaimed, releasing a large burp soon after. 

"Tyson! Stop being so uncouth! And where were your manners!"

"Yeah, No balls! The only time I've seen that much food flying through the air was in a food fight!"

Tyson stared at Eddy in confusion. "A food fight? What a waste of food!"

Rei sighed as he finished off the food he had ordered. Some things never changed.

Nearly everyone had finished eating. Only Rei, Oliver, Robert and Kai were still eating, and that was because they liked to, in Oliver's words, 'savor' their food.

Tyson said that it was just a fancy way of saying they were bloody slow eaters.

Kai had spent the rest of his eating time looking at the knife he was using and wishing he could use it somewhere else- aka Tyson's genitalia- or lack thereof once he had finished with them.

A warning glare from Rei every time the glint in his eyes got too murderous was enough to put him off, though. That and his knife would get dirty. And he didn't want that.

Kai finished eating first, the other three finishing soon after and Kai called for the bill. After getting it he looked it over, sighed as he realized how much he was going to have to pay. Rei looked over his shoulder to see the price and his eyes widened considerably.

"Did we eat _that_ much?" he asked, as he looked at the piece of paper.

"What did you expect? We have... how many people are here anyway? Thankfully not all of them are like Tyson and Gary."

Rei stared at the bottom line of the bill. "OH MY GOD! You can't pay that much! If you were Michael Jackson you still couldn't afford it!"

"And you know Michael Jackson personally?"

"No."

"Good. And you seem to forget, Rei. I'm a Hiwatari. Therefore I'm one of the richest people on earth."

Rei looked at him blankly.

"Please say you're joking."

"Why? Would you prefer me to be an orphan child from the streets? I might fit the orphan criteria but I'm no Annie- I never got to see the end of that movie- was she an orphan in the end? Once the singing got too annoying I left."

"I noticed. I don't know- I fell asleep about halfway through it. You could always ask Tyson or Max."

Kai shuddered. "No thank you. I'm fine. I'll just pay this and we can g-"

Kai found a 500-rouble note (don't know if this is right) on the table in front of him.

"What?"

"I'll pay for my meal."

Kai looked at Rei.

"Rei, its fine. I have enough money to pay for everyone and then some."

"I don't care."

Kai pointedly ignored the money on the table and got up to pay the bill. When he returned he saw that the money had disappeared. _Good_, he thought as he reached over to pick Kevin up, preventing him from tackling Enrique. "We're in public, behave like it."

Without Kai noticing, Rei stole his wallet and placed his note inside it before returning it to the Russians pocket. _I -said- I'd pay._

_------_

"WOAH! THIS PLACE IS FRIGGEN HUGE!"

"No joke."

"It's as big as my house!"

"Enrique, that's not a house. Its a mansion."

"Same difference."

Tyson chose to ignore the conversation going on behind him as he walked up to the manor's front doors. Seeing a flash of pink in the corner of his eye, he spun around, ready to defend himself against Mariah. Instead he found...

"MATHILDA! I THOUGHT YOU WEREN'T GOING TO MAKE IT!"

"Of course! We all came! After all, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity!"

"MATI!" Mathilda was quickly glomped by Mariah. Rei smiled. _At least her attention is off me._

"Where's Miguel? If you're here he should be here." Tyson asked her, before she was completely taken over by Mariah.

"Oh, he's..." She gestured over Tyson's shoulder.

Tyson turned and jumped about ten feet in the air.

"And I was wondering what your reaction would be if you were surprised." the platinum blonde haired blader grinned.

"Crap man you scared me!" Tyson said, gripping his chest as the others laughed at him.

"Tell you what'll scare you even more?"

"What?"

"Turn around."

Tyson turned, and jumped in the air again.

"AHHHHH! TALA!"

Kai froze. _Shit._

"Boo." Tala said, monotonally.

"Har De Harhar" Tyson told him, sarcastically. "If I had had a heart attack you would have been paying the hospital bills."

"Or you might have died before you got there."

Tala looked over the group, smirking, as he looked at Kai, who had gone paler then usual.

"Are you ok, Kai? You don't look well?"

"I'm fine Tala. Don't worry." he said, scowling as Tala laughed at him.

"Oh, I'm not worried. So... How's your love-life?" The redhead asked, winking playfully at Kai, seeing if he'd bite.

Kai's face turned stormy. "I thought we _agreed_ not to speak about that."

"I know. Just like to see you mad."

Kai sniffed and looked away from the grinning redhead, fixing his gaze on a tree about 30 meters away from him. "I'm not mad."

Tala smirked. "Sorry, the clinical term is insane isn't it?"

Rei grinned at the exchange and went to walk over to Tala to say hello. And slipped on the snow, landing on his back. Everyone started laughing as Tala raised an eyebrow at him.

"I thought cats were supposed to be graceful."

Kenny cut in. "Technically, he's not a cat."

"Technically, shut up."

Tala glared at the brown-haired boy before turning on his heel and storming away.

Kenny gaped at his back. _No comeback? Where's the comeback? That wasn't a comeback. I'm sure it wasn't. I didn't just cut up Tala did I? That's statistically impossible. What if the world stops spinning because of this? Then I would have single handedly destroyed the world! Oh My God! I'm too young to die!_

Rei started to wave his arms wildly, making a snow angel appear beneath him.

"I want to make snow angels too!" Max said, throwing himself into the snow next to Rei and making a snow angel, before attempting to do breaststroke through the snow.

Tyson stared down at the blonde. "I'm freezing and you want to play in the snow?" He shivered at the thought.

Kai smirked at him. "I would have thought that those extra layers of blubber would protect you from the elements."

"Unlike _some_ people I come from a place where the temperature is slightly _above_ freezing."

"Tyson, you forget that both Max and I also grew up in places above freezing. However, we are not acting like we have something shoved up our ass, in your case, an ice cube."

"REI! Are you taking Kai's side?"

Rei nodded sagely. "Sometimes, you just have to admit that he makes sense."

Kai mock glared at the neko-jin. "_Sometimes?_"

Rei shrugged. "We have to let him believe that he might be able to win."

"Isn't that cruel?"

"I've been speaking to Tala too much."

Kai froze. "Y-You've been speaking to T-T-Tala?"

Rei raised an eyebrow at Kais stutter.

"Yeah, why?"

"N-No reason."

Tala walked over to Kai and whispered in his ear.

"He doesn't know." He grinned evilly. "Not yet."

Kai grabbed Tala's hand and pushed the redheads thumb back, making him whimper softly. He leaned over and whispered furiously back. "Not _ever_" He released Tala's hand and glared at him. "Got it?"

Tala cradled his hand. "I am _so_ telling Bryan on you."

Tala pranced off to Bryan. Rei raised an eyebrow, and then gave Kai 'the look'.

"What did you do?" Kai tried to look innocent.

"Nothing."

"Yeah, sure and I'm allergic to cats."

"You _are_?" Kai asked him feigning shock.

Rei sighed and sat up in the snow. "You could just ask me not to ask, you know. I _would_ respect your privacy."

"Then respect my privacy."

"Only if you respect my authority!"

"No more South Park for you Rei. It's a bad influence."

The neko-jin pouted. "You're no fun- you know that?"

Kai nodded slowly before holding out a hand to help Rei stand. "And anyway, you know every time you watch it Kenny starts to get paranoid."

"Kenny always is paranoid."

"Yes, but he doesn't think everyone's out to kill him, normally."

"True."

"Dudes! When are we going to check out the house? I want to see what it's like!" Tyson bellowed from where he was standing over Max, who was making another snow angel. Max then preceded to hit Tyson's leg, making him fall in the snow too.

"Ouch! What'd you do that for Maxie?" Tyson asked as he sat up. He realized that the snow was starting to seep into his pants. "ARGH! COLD!" Tyson jumped up and started to dance around, trying to warm up.

Max laughed at the other boy's antics. "Because it's funny watching you dance around."

Robert was shaking his head, muttering "Uncouth..." under his breath while everyone else laughed.

Everyone, but Rei.

He simply stood, starting up at the manor, eyes searching every window.

Something was there. And he didn't like it.

"Rei?" Kai reached out to grab the neko-jin's arm. "Are you ok? You spaced out on us."

Rei shook his head and turned to Kai, giving him a half-smile. "I'm fine. Just... thinking."

"Ok?" Kai asked, searching the golden eyes in front of him for an answer.

"It's nothing, really. Just thinking."

Kai raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"

"Yeah." Rei looked at the manor again. "I'm fine." His eyes ran over the windows again. Blank, blank, blank, blank, flicker, blank, blank. Wait. Flicker?

He looked at the window again. Something was there. Then it was gone.

Rei shook his head, trying to dislodge that thought. He had to be seeing things. That house was empty. He had stopped by his uncle's lawyer's office to get the key for it and he had assured Rei that it was uninhabited.

Flashback

"Are you sure?" Rei asked the small, balding man in front of him.

"Of course I am, what are you afraid of? Ghosts?"

Flashback end

Rei wasn't afraid of ghosts. No. Ghosts weren't real. But there was something about the manor. Something that he didn't like. He had this strange feeling that something bad was going to happen. That he was walking right into a trap.

"REI! C'mon! I'm freezing out here! Open up this door before the keys freeze in you pocket!" Tyson wailed, walking up the steps in front of the house and leaning against the wall next to the ornate front door. "There's plenty of time to play in the snow! There isn't plenty of time before I freeze to death!"

Reis shook his head. It was probably nothing. He pulled the key out of his pocket and slid it into the lock. He turned it and a click was heard, but when Tyson tried to push the door open, it wouldn't budge.

"What the hell?"

"Move Tyson."

Tyson moved back from where he had been leaning and Rei moved a small ornate piece out of the door to reveal a second lock "Each outer door in the manor has two locks, one shown and one hidden." Rei said, putting a second key in the second lock and turning it.

Tyson stared at the door. "That's just weird."

"No, Tyson. That's secure. " Robert told him, walking up behind the other boy. "I wish my place had the same. I have to rely on state of the art technology that keeps on breaking down. This is much simpler and less well known."

"Er... Right, Robert, whatever you think."

"Robert, stop bragging about your security system." Oliver said, looking at the large doors in awe.

"I'm not bragging!"

"Not directly. You're covering it in sugar."

"Oliver, stop being-"

"Uncouth, I know."

Rei sighed and put his hand on the door, noting with interest the Balrog-like figure carved into it. It had a menacing presence and instead of being welcoming, like most front doors should be, it gave him the impression that the house didn't want him there.

He scoffed at himself. What was he thinking? It's not like the house had feelings. With that final thought, he pushed his way inside.

The doors creaked open, and Rei stepped in. There was a large foyer like area, with a staircase to both the left and right leading up to the next level. There were three doors across from the front door, with a small table between each door. A large crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling.

Rei stood in the entrance and gaped. He owned _this_? It was huge! And old. Even from the entryway he could feel the manor's age pressing in on him. Whether it was the dark, stuffy atmosphere or the rich middle ages aura that the entire place radiated, he could not tell. He could feel himself relaxing though. This place felt distinctly... familiar and comfortable to him.

He wasn't the only one being affected by the atmosphere of the place. Everyone filed in, looking around in awe. Even the Majestics were lost for words. And Tyson and Max had remained quiet from the minute the doors were opened. Rei noticed an envelope on one of the tables and walked over to it, while everyone else made fish faces.

"Woah." Tyson managed after a minute of staring. "It's huge!" The midnight blue haired boy ran to the archway in front of him and stared down a long dark hallway. "ECHO!" He shouted, listening in delight as his voice reverberated through the house.

Meanwhile, Rei had wandered over to the table with the letter with Rei Kon clearly on the front.

He opened the letter and quickly scanned through the contents.

"What you got there, Rei-Rei?" Rei jumped and turned to the redheaded Russian that stood behind him grinning evilly.

"It's a letter from my uncle. Apparently I have to live here for a week before I actually inherit this place." Rei sighed before placing the letter back on the table.

Tala grinned. "Lucky for you we're going to be here to keep you company during your stay here." His grin widened. "Hopefully we destroy the place during that time."

Rei gave him a look.

"Bryan didn't bring any weaponry, did he?"

Tala laughed.

"No, but I'm sure he'll make some or find some before we leave."

Tala and Rei had become friends during the last championship, after Rei found Tala and Kai at a bar and offered to help Tala get a hammered Kai up to his room.

Rei caught a glimpse of a display samurai suit complete with sword. He nodded slowly, not taking his eyes off the blade. "I don't doubt it." He muttered before tearing his gaze away from it.

"Rei, do you mind if we do a bit of exploring?" Tyson asked the neko-jin hopefully.

"Depends, are you going to be looking for the kitchen?"

Tyson looked at the floor and started drawing circles with his toe.

"Maybe. Maybe not."

Tala grinned. "Tyson beat his record!"

The others looked at him in confusion. "Half an hour after eating and he's hungry again!"

"HEY!" Tyson exclaimed indignantly. "It's not like I expect to find any food there."

Tala nodded sagely. "Of course you don't Tyson."

Rei sighed at his friend's antics. "Well we may as well have a look around, I mean, we have to find bedrooms. I hope there's enough." He looked around himself and continued. "Then again, why wouldn't there be?"

"HOORAY!"

Tyson ran out of the room, then ran back in and grabbed Max and Kenny, once again running off.

Enrique sighed.

"They're such children."

"C'mon Enri! Lets look upstairs!"

"Sure!"

The blonde allowed his hand to be taken by Oliver and then was dragged upstairs, trying to keep up with the green haired boy.

Robert sighed. "I tried. I really tried. I guess that uncouthness is unsurpassable."

Lee glared at the purple-haired blader. "Will you give that word a rest? It's getting on my nerves! You say it all the time!"

Robert glared back.

"I say it all the time because people are _being _uncouth all the time!"

Lee growled, eyes slitting dangerously, anger practically radiating off him.

Rei stepped between the two boys.

"Calm down! If you don't, you're sleeping on the streets! And Robert," Rei turned to him and glared slightly, "Stop being so _uncouth_."

Then he walked away from the group and headed through one of the doors in the room.

Kai peeled off from the group and followed Rei into the next room. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, concern in his voice.

Rei looked up at the sudden intrusion on his thoughts. "Oh. Hi Kai. Nothings wrong."

The Russian frowned. "Rei, how many years have I known you?"

Rei smiled at that. "A lot. Why?"

"Because you still can't tell a convincing lie."

"I'm not lying Kai."

"Yes you are. What's wrong?"

"How nice is this room!"

"Rei, don't change the subject."

"Seriously! It must be the main lounge room!"

"Rei, please." Rei turned and looked at Kai. Kai never said please. He never said sorry either. Thank you he could do. So for him to say please, well it was a big thing.

Kai gave Rei a half-smile and reached out to the Chinese boy and took hold of his chin, pushing it upwards and effectively closing his mouth which had opened in shock. "Be careful, the flies might want to make it their home."

Rei blushed, both from embarrassment and because of the extreme closeness of Kai. "Uh..." was all he could manage.

Kai withdrew his hand. "Now, tell me."

Rei nearly let out a whine from the sudden loss of warmth from Kais hand, but he stopped himself.

"I've already told you, there's nothing wrong. It's just that I don't want any fights in a house that doesn't belong to me."

"Yet."

"Yet."

Kai's crimson eyes scrutinized Rei's golden ones, trying to see if there was anything else. That, and enjoying looking at Rei's eyes. He could see a faint glimmer of sadness in the golden depths but that was normal for Rei. Even at his happiest moments that small glint of sadness could always be detected in his eyes

No doubt from the loss of his parents. It had only been 5 years ago.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING!" Tala yelled randomly, waltzing into the room, arms linked with a blushing Bryan.

Kai quickly realized how close he had been standing to Rei and quickly stepped back. Not fast enough to escape Tala's gaze though. Tala smirked, but stayed silent.

Rei blushed heavily. He didn't understand why he was. It wasn't as if he liked Kai in _that_ way. He just... liked to look at him... a lot. "N-Nothing." He stuttered to the redhead, wishing that Kai hadn't stepped away.

Tala nodded. "Right. Oh, by the way, when you wandered off everyone took that as a signal to start exploring. Bryan and I have taken on the role of search and rescue. We figured someone had to do it. Congratulations, you're the first to be found and rescued by the dynamic duo."

"We're honored, really." Kai replied in a monotone.

Tala winked at him.

"For some reason I feel that we were interrupting something, but that might just be me. Bryan? Do you think we were interrupting something?"

Tala put his had in front of Bryan's mouth as if he were holding a microphone.

"Do I have to answer that, Red?"

"Yes, yes you do."

"Fine. I think we were interrupting the kitty and the birdies 'alone time'. Now that we have successfully done that, lets go find someone else and leave these two to start to 'get to know each other' just the little bit better." He smirked at the two boys, who were now blushing furiously.

"BRYAN!" Rei yelled at the lilac haired teen, chasing him out of the room.

That left Kai and Tala. The former of who was trying to kill the other with the power of thought alone. "Do you even know the meaning of the word tact?"

Tala shrugged. "Tact is just not saying true stuff to make others feel better."

Kai grumbled underneath his breath. Why did Tyson have the bright idea of inviting _him_ to this? It wasn't good for his sanity.

Tala started walking around the room, randomly looking at everything in it.

"Nice place. Lots of room, lots of stuff."

Kai nodded absentmindedly.

"Sooooooo. Are you going to tell him you want to fuck him or will I?"

That got Kais attention.

"Tactless _and_ crude. Wow. You really do have a list of vices going don't you?" Kai asked Tala with a raised eyebrow after he had recovered from his shock.

Tala grinned. "That's why you love me. And what's wrong with vices? They make life interesting."

Kai sighed.

"So?" Tala broke the silence.

"So what?"

"Are you going to tell him or will I?"

Kai glared.

"I'll tell him. If he heard from you it would just make me seem like..."

"A coward?" Tala put in cheerfully.

Kai frowned. "NO! More like a..."

"Gay freak?" Tala supplied helpfully.

Kai suppressed the growl that was rising in his chest. "Are you going to let me-"

"-Finish a sentence? No." Tala broke in grinning like a maniac at the murderous expression on the other Russian's face.

"Yes." Kai said through gritted teeth. Tala grinned at the bluenette.

"Don't worry Kai. I'm sure Rei will be happy that you, the Ice King, likes him. And what better place to tell him then in his new house. Hey! How's about we make a deal?"

"I don't trust you when it comes to deals."

"Shut up. Here's the deal. You tell Rei you want to throw him to a bed and ravish him, or just do it, or tell him you love him, before we leave the house. If you don't, I'll tell him."

"That's not a deal! That's blackmail." Kai told Tala, frowning at him.

The redhead shrugged. "Whatever you want to call it. I figure that either way he's going to find out. I just think he'd prefer to hear it from you, his prospective boy-toy rather than me the already taken boy-toy."

"Did I have to have that mental image?" Kai asked, a pained expression on his face.

"Yes, yes you did."

"I take it that you're uke then."

Tala sniffed indignantly.

"Actually, me and Bry-koi take turns. When you and Rei hook up you should try it."

Kai pulled a face at the mental images of Tala and Bryan, two boys that he considered brothers.

"Maybe."

Tala cackled. "I am _so_ going to enjoy it when you two get together!"

"When who two get together?" Ian asked as he wandered into the room.

"You and Spencer, who else?"

Ian frowned.

"Kai, I feel for you. Tala is the Devils Advocate."

Tala started laughing evilly.

"If only you knew, Ian. If only you knew," He told the vertically challenged boy in a sinister voice.

Kai rolled his eyes. He always had had the distinct impression he was a five year old trapped in a nineteen year old's body. Now he had proof that his theory was true. "Grow up, would you?"

Tala grinned. "If you grow a backbone, sure."

"I have a backbone."

"Yes and when you talked to Rei you had a boner."

Ian raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Tala grinned evilly.

"Practically."

"Since when has the Ice King liked anyone?"

"In his words, 'the moment I saw his eyes'."

Ian took a second to digest that before bursting into peals of laughter. "Kai! Have you been reading any Mills and Boon lately? That is so corny!"

Kai sniffed indignantly. "Hey! I was pissed at the time. I can't be held accountable for what I said."

Ian ignored him and continued to roll on the ground laughing. "That... is... CLASSIC!" He managed to gasp out between more bouts of laughter.

Kai walked over to the still rolling Ian and, taking careful aim, booted him towards the door. Just as Spencer was coming in.

Ian smacked into his feet causing the giant of a man to face plant into the floor.

"Ouch." Spencer mumbled into the wooden floor he suddenly had a splendid view of.

Meanwhile, Ian was trying to breathe with Spencer's legs still on top of him. "Can you get off?" He asked, his face beginning to turn purple.

"Oh, sorry." Spencer replied before lifting his legs, allowing Ian to scramble out.

Meanwhile, Tala and Kai had taken over for Ian, and were rolling around on the ground laughing loud enough to wake the dead.

Which drew Rei and Bryan, who appeared to be in a large amount of pain.

Tala and Kai stopped rolling.

"Never get kitty angry." is all he said. And it was all that Tala and Kai needed to start rolling around laughing again.

Bryan looked indignant. "You could at least pretend to care." The lavender-haired boy scowled at his boyfriend who was still rolling around on the ground laughing.

" Sorry!" Tala managed to gasp out, holding his stomach. "It's just that you couldn't even fend off Rei! You've lost your touch!" Tala began to laugh again.

Bryan growled under his breath before walking over to where Tala was and placing his foot on the redhead's stomach, slowly applying pressure. Tala squeaked and sucked in his stomach. "No fair! You know I'm ticklish there!"

Kai stopped laughing and crawled over to the redhead.

"You're also ticklish here, here, here, here and here."

On every 'here' he poked Tala in a certain place. The redhead was trying to contain his laughter, and was doing well. "Rei, come join the party!"

Or not.

Tala was soon laughing louder then him and Kai put together as his boyfriend, best friend and best-friends-love-interest tickled him in various places.

Ian rolled his eyes as he looked at the quartet on the floor. "Jeez, get a room, would you?"

That sobered up Rei. The neko-jin sat up and looked around the room they were in. "Speaking of rooms. Where is everyone?"

Ian shrugged. "Do I care?"

Kai looked up too. Soon Tala's laughter died down and everyone was quiet.

"I can't hear anyone. Like, at all." Tala said, picking himself up off the floor and stretching.

Bryan and Kai stood up too.

"Well we are supposed to find everyone, remember?" Bryan said to Tala.

Tala nodded and headed towards the door, but not before giving Bryan a harsh smack on the bum. He turned and winked at the lilac haired blader before running from the room.

Bryan growled under his breath and made to follow the redhead, murder in his eyes, only to be stopped by Rei's hand on his arm. "Bring everyone back to this room, ok?" Bryan nodded before running after his boyfriend with at least two horrible ways for him to die formulating in his mind.

"Do you like Tala's chances?" Rei asked Kai as he flopped into one of the numerous couches littering the floor of the room.

Kai flopped down next to him.

"Depends."

"On what?"

"On whether Bryan catches him."

"Hey guys! HOLY MONKEY! This room is great!" Tyson yelled as he, Max, Kenny, Oliver and Kevin walked into the room.

"Rei! Your house is wicked!" Max said as he cannonballed onto the couth next to Kai.

"GANG WAY!"

Everyone turned as one to see Tala running into the room. He jumped onto the couch next to Rei and started flailing around, for no apparent reason; though he did keep shouting "They're in my hair! They're in my hair!" His flailing, however, was guided and he managed to hit Rei several times before he knocked the neko-jin into Kai's lap. Through his flailing, Tala could be seen smirking.

Once his goal had been achieved Tala stopping moving. "Where'd they go?" He questioned the room to try to add some authenticity to his performance.

Rei rubbed his back where Tala had hit him before he realized exactly where he was. He looked up into Kai's face and blushed heavily when he realized how close he was to the Russian. "S-sorry." He stammered, not being able to tear his eyes away from the other's crimson gaze.

"TALA! You hit my Rei-Rei!"

Oh no.

Tala raised a delicate eyebrow at the Evil pink one.

"_Your_ Rei-Rei? _YOUR_ Rei-Rei? I'll have you know that he is MY REI-REI!" Tala said, hugging Rei even though he was still planted firmly in Kais lap.

"I will call him Squishy and he shall be mine. And he shall be my Squishy." Bryan walked into the room and shook his head at his boyfriend.

"Cheating on me again Tala?"

Tala looked at him.

"No. I'm getting another boyfriend, but I'll keep you, cause I like you. I have my Bry and my Squishy and I'll share Squishy with someone else." He said, giving Kai a pointed look. However, Rei was too shocked to care and everyone else was too focused on the Pink one, who had gone bright red.

Kai glared at the redhead, who was still hugging Rei in his lap. "You're taking up my airspace. Leave."

Tala got the message and let go of Rei before retreating to the other side of the couch. "Grumble-bum, hogging my Squishy." He crossed his arms and pouted at Kai who was still giving him his best death glare.

Meanwhile, Mariah was fuming. Her face had gone an ugly shade of red and her hands were bunched into fists that looked ready to knock Tala out.

With an angry screech she leapt at him...and was intercepted by Lee who tackled her in mid-flight.

The pair landed with a painful thud. Lee had landed on top of Mariah and so had had a soft landing while Mariah hadn't been so lucky. While Lee stood up almost straight away, his sister lay dazed on the ground.

'PMS' he mouthed to the rest of the group who were shocked by Mariah's actions. They all nodded understandingly.

Johnny burst into the room, closely followed by Robert. "See?" He said, turning to the taller boy. "Told you I heard voices!"

Robert nodded and smoothed down his hair, which was looking a lot messier than usual. "We found the bedrooms..." He told the group.

Tala smirked and noticed that Johnny's face had turned almost the same shade as his face. "Yeah, I bet you did." He had often wondered why Johnny and Robert had always seemed so... _close_.

Tala whispered to Bryan who started snickering. Meanwhile Rei's eyes started darting around the room, landing on the fireplace several times. He shuddered.

"Rei? What's wrong?" Kai asked him.

Rei shook his head.

"Nothing. Just felt like something was watching me."

In the grate a small flame of fire crackled in the deepest shadow. It had no intention of trading one master for another. Not again.

* * *

Please tell us what you think


	4. Chapter 4

**PandaPjays-**Hello and welcome back for another chapter!

**animeobsession**- We're sorry it took so long but... well...we don't really have a reason.

**PandaPjays-** I have exams!

**animeobsession-** I had a Maths exam. That was pretty bad... I hate school.

**PandaPjay-** Seconded by me

**animeobsession-**Well, there's a lot of us in this chapter, believe it or not. We're once again being a bad influence on Tala and Rei and Kevin

**PandaPjays-**And pretty much anyone else we can possible be a bad influence on

**animeobsession-**Well sit back, relax, fall off your chair, get back on it and don't relax too much because this chapter is where the real story begins. /grins evilly/

**PandaPjays-**Yes despite popular belief there is a storyline- not just us rambling. Oh and you may need popcorn while you relax- just a thought

**animeobsession-**Coffee is also good.

**PandaPjays-** Hey! That's my line!

**animeobsession-** I know - I'm thieving!

**PandaPjays-** Speaking of thieving- we still don't own Beyblade. And we don't own any brands, groups, songs etc that we happen to quote/use.

**animeobsession-** /nods /

**PandaPjays-** Are we replying to reviews?

**animeobsession-** Small competition here: how many Group X quotes are used in this chapter? Um...I don't know, what with the whole rumor going around.

**PandaPjays-** hm... Well it is my account we're risking... peh replying. I feel gypped when authors don't reply

**animeobsession**- Lets reply then

**PandaPjays-** _Shin Rigel-_ No it's not just you. Rei is still in Kai's lap. I'm glad that you like the comedic air and there -is- something up with that fire. I guess that you're going to have to keep reading to find out what though hey? Anyway, enjoy this chapter.

**animeobsession**- _Lady-Nikki-_I take it you like the weird fire? lol. Don't worry about Mariah; she'll get what she deserves.

**PandaPjays-** _dimonyo-anghel -_ I wouldn't mind having to deal with Tala /cough/

**animeobsession-** _Dvlsadvocate-_I luv Tala too! Though its not soon, we have updated.

**PandaPjays-** _Echo in the Dark-_ I'm with you on the long live Horror point. Sorry for keeping you waiting but here's our nice shiny new chapter

**animeobsession-** _Dark Angel of Fire Ice-_Yes he is mental. He's partially based on us.

**PandaPjays-** _Myrra -_ We're leaving that option open. It all depends. Problem?

**animeobsession- **_riverrae- _Dont worry. Her death will be big.

**PandaPjays-** _Lainyisme-_ Lol thankies and yes Tala is psychotic but that's how we love him

**animeobsession-** _iain'tnohollabackgurl-_Rolling around on the floor is fun! Nice to see you thought it was funny!

**PandaPjays-** _Peggy-chan the anime fan- _I'm glad that you like it! Tala seems to be the fav character- Methinks there's something to this being completely insane thing

**animeobsession- **_Wolfchilde- _We.Have.Talent? Never heard that before. Thanks!

**PandaPjays-** _cute-little-Yugi-_ Haven't updated that soon but updated nonetheless. I hope you like this chapter!

**animeobsession-** _whitespirit04-_Nice to know we're writing good stuff. KaiRei and TalaBryan are the best pairings. And the humor may end very, very soon.

**PandaPjays-** _kaieshakai-_ There will be a whole heap more. In case if you haven't been able to guess we tend to ramble a tad so more is something that is guaranteed.

**animeobsession-** _BloodyShadows-_Everybody loves Tala.

**PandaPjays- **_Daaku Hisaki-_ Wow! Ego stroke! That one made me smile- like thousand watt smile. Here's the next chapter hope that you enjoy it

**animeobsession-** _Kimpossible243-_ There is nothing wrong with Annie. But Panda-chan wanted to use it so we did.

**PandaPjays-** _jayhay-_ nice gratuitous swearing there /shares out kitkats/ . And yes the pink menace will die. It will be good. There will be a parade or so- at least in my street. And here's the next installment. So that means that you haven't reviewed all my stories again! hahahahaha /hugs/

* * *

The room was filled with quiet mumbling as the few bladers in the room waited for the others to arrive.

Tala, who was being observant, noticed something.

"Rei? Why are you still in Kais lap?" He asked innocently, as he smirked on the inside.

Rei blushed and sat up, lessening his contact with Kai "Uh..."

Kai glared at Tala. "Because he's cold from making snow angels outside and this way he gets warm faster."

Rei grinned at Kai and settled back into his lap with a contented smile. "Exactly."

"Whatever you say Squishy."

Tala walked back over to the couch Bryan was laying on and curled up on top of Bryan.

"Hey Nun-boy! What are _you_ doing?"

Tala scowled at the nuisance. "I'm doing something very un-nun like. What does it look like, smarty?"

"Do I even want to know?"

Tala snuggled into Bryan's shoulder. "Probably not."

Johnny made a disgusted face. "Sheesh, get a room would you?"

"What? Like you and Robert?"

Johnny spluttered.

"What was that, you freakin' robot?"

Rei sighed. "Guys, you fight, you sleep in the snow."

Johnny gulped. "You wouldn't do that would you?"

Rei nodded seriously. "Yes I would and trust me- it's cold out there."

"Lucky you have Kai to _warm you up_ then Rei hey?" Tala quipped.

Kai growled under his breath. "You continue along that train of thought and you will be wishing you had lost your fingers and toes to frostbite."

"Point taken."

The room was silent for a little longer, before a high-pitched scream rang through the halls.

"What the hell?"

The room was quickly evacuated as everyone ran to find the source of the scream.

Another scream echoed through the halls. "Where'd it come from?" Max asked at a junction of three hallways. "I can't tell!"

Rei charged down the left one. "Down here!"

The neko-jin rounded the corner to find Enrique with tears of panic in his eyes pointing at the corner of the room they were in.

Oliver ran to his friend (Coughlovercough.)

"Enri! What's wrong? What happened?"

"S-s-s-s-s-s-sp-sp-spi-"

"Yes?"

"SPIDER!"

Rei's eyes widened. _That _had been what was wrong? A _spider_? In a hundred year old manor?

Enrique pointed at the offending creature. "Can you kill it, Ollie?" he asked pathetically. "Please?"

Oliver looked at the tiny creature. "It's not going to hurt you, you know."

The blonde's eyes widened. "Y-You won't kill it?" he asked in a small voice.

Oliver sighed and hit the wall, squashing the spider.

Tala started sobbing, loudly and fakely.

"You killed it! Frenchy, you're a murderer!" Tala ran over to Rei and started sobbing loudly into his shoulder.

"How can you let this...this...taker of life in your house Rei-Rei? How?"

Rei sighed. "Quite easily. I guess that we have to do a bit of a spring clean... or a decade clean as the case may be." he ran his finger along a shelf filled with random oddments and brought it up to look at the thick layer of dust on it. "Make that we definitely need to do one."

Tyson sighed. "But the whole point of a holiday is that we do no work.

In response Rei wiped his dust covered finger on Tyson's sleeve. "This isn't work. It's a necessity."

Tyson groaned. "Does that mean that we're working too?"

"Yes."

"Oooooo! Can I wear a maid outfit?"

"If you want, Tala."

"Hooray!"

The red head clapped in glee and hopped from foot to foot in glee before stopping with a thoughtful expression on his face. "Where'd I get one though?"

Kai snorted. "This place is so old that it probably has an original maid's outfits lying around in a closet somewhere."

Rei turned around to Kai with a slightly hurt expression on his face. "Are you saying you think it's old?"

Kai's eyes widened slightly, surprised at Rei's reaction. "No! I like old. Old is good. Give me more old."

Oliver raised an eyebrow.

"Kai? You wouldn't just happen to be...whatever the opposite of a pedophile is, would you?"

Kai spluttered. "OLIVER! That's disgusting! How could you think that?"

Oliver looked down at the floor. "Well I always wondered if there was something like that. It just came into my head."

Bryan rolled his eyes. "They're called gold-diggers, twit. Haven't you ever heard of them? Beware of them when you go to be sixty."

Oliver nodded solemnly then thought for a moment. "Hey aren't they normally girls?"

Robert nodded. "Usually they are women. However sometimes men can be gold-diggers. That happened to my aunt once." He mumbled the last part but it was still heard.

"Hey..." Tala drawled. "What do you mean by 'aren't they normally girls' anyway? Do you have something to tell the group? It's share-time, Ollie."

Oliver blinked and blushed a deep shade of red. "I... uh... Just wanted to make sure... I..." He trailed off

Enrique sighed softly and looked down at the floor. He knew that it had been too much to hope for but he had still hoped.

Lee sighed. "Now that we're all done saving Enrique from the monstrous spider that was going to eat him as an appetizer and the rest of us as the main meal can we go find the bedrooms? I don't know about you guys but I'm dead tired."

Enrique scowled at Lee's insult but spoiled the effect with a yawn. "We should find everyone else first, shouldn't we?"

"Nah. They'll find us if we make enough noise." Rei said offhandedly.

Tala started bouncing on the spot. "Can I make the noise? Can I?"

"Whatever Tala."

Tala grinned evilly and took a deep breath. Bryan's eyes widened and he let out a cry of 'Block your ears!' before Tala burst into song.

"IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII will always love yooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII will always love yooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

Mariah's eye twitched. "I can't believe you just did that!"

Tala turned around with a puzzled expression on his face. "Did what? Sung like a choir of angels wrapped in this gorgeous body?" Bryan rolled his eyes. Tala grinned. "Oh come on, Bry. You know you agree with me on that point."

Mariah put her hands up to her ears. "I don't want to know! And anyway, you just killed Whitney! That has to be one of my all time favourite songs ever! Haven't any of you seen The Bodyguard? I cried! And now you go and ruin its song! Whenever I hear it know all I'm going to think of is your God awful voice!"

Tala pouted. "It wasn't that bad, was it?"

"Who's dying?" came a voice from outside the room.

"The cat." Tyson answered.

"Which one? There are three in this household."

"The pink one."

"Oh. Nothing to worry about yet."

Mariah glared at Miguel as he walked into the room. "What's that supposed to mean, Blondie?"

"Exactly what it sounded like, Pinkie."

"What's all that hair for anyway? Making up for lacking in areas... down below?" Mariah asked, bristling.

A collective "OoOoOo." came from the group.

"Hey! I'll have you know that I'm not lacking anything!"

Lee cringed. "Dude! We didn't need to know that!"

"Oh. Sorry man."

Mariah smirked. "You seemed awfully quick to defend your manly honour there. Feeling Insecure?"

Miguel crossed his arms tightly around himself. "No!"

"If you really want to know - he's perfectly fine in that area. " Mathilda told Mariah, making Miguel turn beet red.

"And who thinks that is a little bit too much information?" Johnny asked. Everyone apart from the two pink girls put up their hand.

Mathilda, suddenly realizing what she said also blushed heavily and hid her face in Miguel's shoulder.

"By that I take it you guys are hiding something." Kevin said, looking at the two teens.

Mathilda buried her face more in Miguel's shoulder while Miguel wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Yes. Mati and I are going out. We've been going out for a while now."

Mathilda turned around in her boyfriend's arms. "And what do you mean by hiding something. We haven't been hiding anything! It's not our fault you're so blind that you can't see anything more subtle than Bryan and Tala."

Tala scowled. "HEY! We are subtle!"

Mathilda rolled her eyes. "I'm not even going to dignify that with a reply."

"Hey, genius you just replied."

"He's got you there Mati." Claude said, burying his finger in Mathilda's side.

"Gah! Stop! That tickles! Miguel, save me!"

Miguel grinned evilly and joined in. "Sorry. No can do, love."

Lee sighed and sat down on the floor. "When we actually leave to go to bed can you tell me?"

Kevin nodded. "Yeah, sure."

Lee smiled tiredly. "Thanks." He lay down on the floor, stretching himself out on the old carpet.

Tala giggled softy to himself. "Lee doing that reminds me of a book that I loved as a child."

"Oh? What was it called?" Lee asked opening one eye to look at Tala, and moving one hand to hold the carpet near Tala's feet.

"It was called The Fat Cat Who Sat On The Mat."

"That's it." Lee growled and he tugged the rug from under Tala feet, sending the Russian sprawling to the floor.

Lee chuckled. "And that reminds me of a book I used to love when I was little."

"And that is?" Tala asked, grimacing as he sat up.

"The Stupid Russian who Insulted the Brilliant and Brave Neko-jin."

"Hey! That's not a real book!" Tala said indignantly.

"Are you discrediting my childhood memories?"

"Maybe." Tala said, doing shifty eyes.

The others laughed at the two on the floor, or in the case of Mati, because they were being tickled.

"Please Stop!" She managed to gasp out between giggles. "You're killing me!" She kicked her legs wildly at the two boys who were concentrating on finding her most ticklish spots. They didn't have enough time to dodge Mathilda's feet. One of her legs caught Claude in the stomach and the other hit Miguel in the face.

Both boys fell backwards, Claude gasping for breath and Miguel clutching his nose.

Johnny burst out laughing as the two fell away from Mati. He then felt the rug under his feet move and he found himself on the floor with Tala and Lee, who were both grinning at him innocently.

"Miguel! Are you ok? Is it broken? Claude! I didn't kick you too hard did I?"

Claude clutched his stomach and sat up. "I think you gave me a bruise. What have you been eating?" He asked with a grin but saw that the girl who had caused his pain had turned away from him.

"Are you sure you're ok, Miguel?" She asked softly, prying his hands away from his face. "Let me have a look."

She poked his nose a few times.

"I'm fine Mati. It's not broken. At least it doesn't feel broken."

Their attention was soon brought to the floor where Tala, Lee and Johnny had started wrestling. Kevin, who was sitting on the rug near them laughing was dragged in by Tala and Bryan was tripped by Johnny's leg.

Kai stared at all the boys rolling around on the floor. "I don't believe it."

"Don't believe what?" Rei asked, walking over to the couch and perching on the arm of it.

"It's the first day and already Tala's got an orgy going. I fear for this house. We have to stay here a week." He continued to watch the group on the floor in a sort of transfixed horror.

"You mean _I_ have to stay here a week. You can leave if you want." Rei told him as he wiggled on the arm of the couch to get comfortable on it.

"No I can't"

"Why can't you leave?"

"Because I cant leave you here alone." Kai said, brushing one of Reis bangs from his face. "That and Tala might rape you."

Rei raised an eyebrow. "If Tala were here to rape me then I wouldn't be alone, would I?" He asked practically, ignoring the urge to lean into Kai's touch.

"But you'd have no one to share a room with." Kai pointed out, pulling his hand back and rubbing his fingers together, relishing the feel of Rei's hair between them.

"I could always share with Lee."

"I think he wants to share with Kevin. There's so much sexual tension between those two."

Rei nodded absentmindedly. "Mmhmm."

Kai was running his fingers through Reis bangs now and its was starting to put Rei to sleep.

"Rei, are you even listening to what I'm saying?" Kai asked the ebony haired teen. A soft sound from the back of Rei's throat was the only answer Kai received. Kai shut his eyes and listened closely. Rei was purring. Softly, yes. But he was purring nonetheless. Kai smiled. Rei had gone into a sort of trance from both how tired he was and the feeling of Kai's fingers running through his hair.

_Meanwhile, back at the orgy-I mean, wrestling match._

"Tala, are you humping my leg?"

"NO! I'm humping Bryans!"

"Please say you're kidding."

"I am, don't worry."

"If you're not humping my leg then who is?"

"Why don't you look for yourself?"

"Because someone's fat ass is in my face."

"My ass is not fat!"

"AHHHH! Pink Menace!"

Tala army crawled through the forest of arms and legs until he reached Bryan who was busy battering away any limbs that came to close to anything sensitive... Meaning his face, of course.

Tala held his hand up to his face like a walkie-talkie "Kerchk! RedRobin to EssEll. Red Robin to EssEll. Over."

Bryan looked at Tala quizzically. "EssEll?"

"Kerchk! Short for Sexy Legs, duh. Over."

Tala looked over everyone else.

When Bryan had been tripped he had grabbed onto Ian, who had grabbed Oliver who had grabbed Enrique and they fell into the wrestling match. The flailing mass had then swept up everyone else and now they were all wrestling, though it was only play wrestling.

Tala looked over and through the limbs, hoping to find Kai or Rei. He looked over at the couch up against the wall and saw Kai running his fingers through Rei's bangs. He smiled. _Damn! I wish I bought a camera!_

Tala yawned and dodged a flying elbow easily. He wished that Kai and Rei would just hurry up and get together. It was painful to watch both of them be so close and get so far apart. Speaking of pain... someone's knee dug into Tala's back, making his gasp and slam into the floor. Why hadn't he seen that coming?

"Got you now, wolf!" Lee crowed happily from his position on Tala's back.

Tala groaned unhappily.

"Get off, Lion."

"Hell no."

Then they both heard a loud screech of "YAYA!" and Ian tackled Lee off Tala.

"WAH!" Lee cried as he went down. Tala smirked. The battle cry of the Lion. How the mighty fall… literally.

Lee pinched Ian's nose between his second and middle finger and pulled. He inserted his thumb in the gap that Ian's nose made when it slipped out of his grasped. "Got your nose!" Lee crowed in triumph.

Bryan crawled over to Lee and pushed Lees thumb so it was completely through.

"That's more accurate."

"Darn you, Falcon!" Ian cried as he launched himself at the lavender-haired teen.

Bryan ducked at the right moment and Ian flew over him to land in another pile of wriggling bodies. The lavender-haired teen raised an eyebrow. "I thought an ankle-biter like him would know not to mess with the high-flyers."

Tala grinned. "That has to be the worst pun I've ever heard."

"I've heard worse." They heard Lees voice say.

"Where are you, Lion?"

"Under you, Wolf."

"Oh." Tala suddenly noticed that he was straddling Lee. "Hi. How the hell did this happen?"

"Don't ask me."

"Hey! Get off him!"

Now it was Tala's turn to be tackled by a short and evil person

Kevin knelt on Tala's arms, effectively straddling his chest and trapping his arms. The green haired boy leant forward and took hold of the twin peaks of Tala's hair. "How much gel to you use on this stuff?" He asked, satisfied that Tala wasn't going anywhere soon.

Tala bucked underneath him, trying to knock the short one off and failing miserably. "More than you can afford."

An angered shout led to them looking back to Bryan and Lee (Kevin still holding Tala's hair.). Bryan had tackled Mariah and the pink freak had taken it the wrong way. And so was currently trying to kill Bryan. Literally.

Bryan yawned and held Mariah at arms length, smirking at the pink one's struggles. "You fight like a girl." He told he matter of factly.

"I _am_ a girl, prick." She told him, trying to reach for Bryan's neck but only succeeding in spinning herself around. "Just wait till I'm out of this. When you least expect it I'll be there." She whispered in a creepy voice.

Bryan looked surprised.

"You're a girl? Man, I wouldn't have noticed. The colours you wear don't really show it."

Mariah snarled. "I know plenty of guys who can pull off pink, thank-you very much. And anyway, isn't purple the international colour for gay?"

Bryan snorted. "That would have been insulting if I wasn't a) Gay, and b) Proud of being so." He shook Mariah, smirking at the amusing way that he legs flew about. "How about you, kitty? Pink stand for anything meaningful? Apart from your idol, Barbie?"

"If you two could finish your lovers spat, I think its time we all went to bed." Enrique said, picking himself up off the floor and dusting himself off. "Jet lag plus the fact that it's late has made me sleepy."

"Very true." Spencer said, crawling out from under a pile containing Aaron, Johnny, Robert (surprisingly) and Tyson.

"Oh Bryaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!" Tala sung gleefully as he made his way over to his boyfriend. "You don't want to touch that. You don't know where it's been," He said, eyeing off the girl still being held by Bryan. He then leant over and whispered in Bryan's ear. "Before someone ruins to moment take a gander over there in the corner, Kai and Rei. Don't you just wish they'd start making out already?"

Bryan raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I do. However I think my reasons are different to yours, pervert."

"Hey! You can't say you don't like seeing two hot guys making out!"

"I don't like seeing as much as you. I prefer to perform."

Tala arched an eyebrow. "Care to demonstrate?"

"Um... If you don't mind, before you start cleaning each others tonsils with your tongues can you let me go?" Mariah asked, still struggling in Bryan's grip.

Bryan had completely forgotten about her existence. "Oh yeah, sure." He kept his eyes glued to Tala's face as he let Mariah's arm go.

Mariah moved forward quickly and punched Bryan hard in the stomach. Nothing happened.

"What the hell?" Mariah screeched. Bryan smirked down at her.

"Going to have to do better then that, bitch."

Tala cupped Bryan's cheek in his hand. "That was a bit harsh wasn't it? You should try to be kind to those less fortunate than you."

"Meaning?"

"Well, you've found someone who actually love's you back and is willing to put up with you and your...habits. She... well..." He inclined his head toward the two boys in the corner, still in their own word. "She's going to have to get a new infatuation."

Mariah didn't see where Tala was gesturing but she still whirled to him.

"What do you mean? Rei and I are _meant_ to be together! Nothing can change that!"

Bryan and Tala shook their heads sadly. Meanwhile, Mariah's' screech had broken Rei and Kai from their trancelike state.

"Huh?" Rei looked around, confused. "I just... huh? Did I fall asleep?" He asked, his eyes darting around the room, trying to figure out why no one was wrestling anymore. He was sure the last time he had checked there had been a lot of people rolling around on the ground.

"You were almost asleep." Kai told him, removing his hand from Rei's hair gently. "_Someone_ just woke you up."

"Someone? Who?" Rei asked, pawing gently at his eyes.

Kai smiled gently at him. "You'll find out in about…5 seconds."

"Rei! What are you doing over there? You should be over here with me! I'm going to need someone strong like you to help me get my bags and stuff into my room."

"I'll do that, Mari-" Lee started but was stopped by Mariah kicking his leg, hard.

"You wouldn't mind doing that for _me_ would you Rei-Rei?"

It was obvious to everyone in the room, excluding the pink one, that Rei didn't want to do anything involving Mariah. And some took pity on him.

"He can't, Miss Mariah. He promised that he'd look around the kitchen with me, seeing as how both Rei and I will be cooking for everyone." Oliver said with a polite smile on his face. "Perhaps your older brother might take them up for you?"

Mariah's eyes shone. "You two are going to be cooking? Can I help? I love cooking! I've got this great salad recipe that only Gary has tried and he doesn't really count because he'll eat anything! I'd love to see what everyone else thinks of it!"

Mariah missed Rei's terrified expression at that. He shook his head vigorously at Oliver behind Mariah's back, mouthing 'No' to him.

"I'm sorry Mariah, but not today. Perhaps tomorrow?"

Mariah scowled at the French boy.

Oliver smiled brightly and hooked arms with Rei. "C'mon Rei! Lets go see what the kitchen is like!"

"Uh... But... Tired..." Was all Rei managed to say before he was dragged out of the room, his eyes never leaving Kai's.

Mariah stared after them. "I'm sure it's just because I'm looking a bit jet lagged," she said more to herself than anyone else.

"Yeah, sure." Lee told his sister, rolling his eyes when she wasn't looking at him.

Meanwhile, Kai had followed Rei and Oliver to the kitchen.

Oliver had pushed Rei in, then pulled Kai in, then shut the door quickly.

"Sorry about dragging you down here Rei, especially since you're obviously tired, but I figured you'd rather be here then with the evil pink one?"

Rei blushed but nodded.

"Good. I'm going to sneak back upstairs and see if Mariah is gone. If she is I'll give you the all clear to go to your room, since you two are sharing. Or you can come with me. Either is good."

Rei stared at the Frenchman in shock "You _do_ sneaky, Ollie?" he asked incredulously.

Oliver smiled. "This innocent face does have its purposes."

Rei snorted. "Innocent? Yeah right. More too cute to have committed a crime."

"That is the definition of an innocent face is it not?"

"Hn. Lets hurry up shall we?"

The two boys turned to Kai who was leaning against the wall of the kitchen in true Kai form.

Rei smiled. "Yes. We should hurry. If she's gone now she might come back by the time we get up there."

That was when they heard the loud cry from one Tala Ivanov.

"GO HASHMEER GO HASHMEER GO!" Tala said, dancing around Kevin doing his best impression of a Shaman dance.

Kevin watched the redhead go with a large grin on his face before joining Tala in conga-fashion to parade around the room. "GO HASHMEER GO HASHMEER GO!"

Bryan gave Tala a look.

"Tala? Who is this Hashmeer? Are you seeing someone behind my back?" Realization dawned on the face of the falcon. "Are you _and_ Kevin in a threesome with this Hashmeer and you've never told me?"

Kevin gave Bryan an incredulous look. "You idioth!"

Tala paused mid Shaman-like leap. He landed rather painfully on the ground. "I'm going to agree with Kevin on this one, idioth. Where would I find time to see them? I mean, between you, Ian, Spencer and the milkman I'm beat. I can't do no more... literally."

Bryan stared at him in horror. "W-What?"

Tala suddenly started laughing.

"Bryan! Your face is priceless!"

His face then turned serious. "Bryan, don't be so serious all the time. I would never cheat on you. I love you too much."

Tala wrapped Bryan in a hug. Bryan smiled and hugged him back.

Kevin, caught in the moment, walked over and hugged Bryan too.

Tala gave him a look. "Don't touch him."

Kevin smirked and hugged Bryan tighter. "Oh did Bryan forget to mention the torrid love affair that we've been having for the past few months? Really, you think he would have mentioned it, Hey Bry-Bry?"

Tala scowled at the annoying runt and thumped him over the head. "No one but me gets to call my Bry-Bry, Bry-Bry." He snuggled into Bryan's shoulder. "Right, Bry-Bry?"

Bryan smiled. "Whatever you say, Red."

Tala nuzzled into Bryans neck, then turned to Kevin and smirked.

"Hey monkey, haven't you had a crush on the lion for a while now? How many months? Schfifty five months?"

Kevin blushed and kicked Tala before running out of the room.

Tala gripped his leg "Ouch! Little runt packs a punch." He looked around at the room to see everyone staring at him, shocked. None were more shocked than Lee though.

"Oh, come on!" Tala said indignantly. "He couldn't have made it more obvious if he started to serenade Lee with a ukulele."

"Actually Tala, he's more subtle then you." Rei said as he, Kai and Oliver reentered the room, having heard what Tala said.

"Where'd Pinkie go?" Kai asked.

"Gary took her bags for her and she went with him so she could get an early start on her 'beauty sleep'." Enrique said.

Kai snorted. "She's going to need a LOT of sleeping time then."

Rei walked over to Lee. "Lee? Are you ok?"

Lee looked at Rei. "He likes me? As in like likes me?"

Rei's eyes widened, put on the spot. "Uh... Yeah."

If it were possible for Lee to look more shocked he would have. "Sure?"

"Sure."

"Positively?"

"Positively."

"Absolutely?"

"Absol- Lee just go after him! He's probably made his way halfway across the house by now! And gotten lost in the process!"

Lee nodded and dashed off in the direction that Kevin went.

He ran along the halls, following Kevin's scent. The monkey had a particular scent that Lee had grown rather fond of. Just like he had grown rather fond of Kevin.

He stopped suddenly. The scent was through the door to his right. He could feel a light breeze and hear gentle sniffling. Was Kevin crying?

Lee cautiously stepped inside the room, scanning it until his eyes came to rest on the small figure of Kevin crouched in a corner of the room. "Kev?" He asked softly.

Kevin buried his head in his arms. He had known that it was Lee from the moment the lion had stepped into the room. He knew the other's scent like he knew his own. Why did Tala have to have such a big mouth?

"Go away Lee." Kevin said, though his legs muffled it.

Lee walked over to Kevin and sat beside him.

"You know I can't do that Kevin." Lee sighed. "Kev, look at me."

Kevin did nothing.

"Kevin."

Still nothing.

Lee dug a finger into Kevin side, which forced the monkey to raise his head as his body stretched away from the finger.

Lee grabbed Kevin's chin and, hoping it wouldn't get him killed, pushed his lips to Kevin's.

Kevin's eyes widened. _Lee's kissing me? Lee's kissing -me-? _He closed his eyes and focused on enjoying the feeling of Lee's lips against his own. He knew that it couldn't last. Lee had obviously made a mistake. Lee couldn't like him, it wasn't possible.

Oblivious to the thoughts running through the other's mind, Lee pulled Kevin into his lap, giving him better access to the smaller boy's mouth.

After what felt like an age, but was only a minute the two boys broke apart, panting lightly.

Kevin looked away. Lee put a hand on Kevin' cheek and pushed his face so he was looking at him again.

"Kevin? Did I offend you? Because if I did I'm sorry." Lee pulled the green haired youth into a hug and buried his face in his hair. "I'm sorry if I hurt you."

Kevin's eyes widened, and he felt tears gathering in his eyes again.

"Lee…you could never offend me." Kevin said, tears trickling down his cheeks. "I should be the one worried about offending you." Kevin buried his face in the lion's chest. "I don't deserve you."

Lee growled softly and took Kevin's face in his hands, forcing him to look up into his eyes. "Never ever say that, ok? It's me who doesn't deserve you if anything, ok?" He kissed the other gently. "I can't believe it took Tala to get us together. I mean, Tala! Of all people!"

Kevin shrugged. "I could think of worse people."

"Like?"

"Your sister."

Lee visibly shuddered. "Very true."

Kevin smiled and shyly brought his lips to Lees' again.

The two sat in the room for several minutes exchanging sweet kisses, before they got up and walked back to the rest of the group, to find a very odd image.

Bryan was currently face-first on the floor with Rei sitting on his back noggieing Tala who was held in a Full Nelson by Kai, who was kneeling next to Rei.

Lee raised an eyebrow. "I don't want to know."

Kevin grinned. "Let me guess... Tala started it?"

He was answered with three people nodding, Bryan with considerable difficulty, and the person in question loudly protesting his innocence.

"It was KAI! KAI I TELL YOU!"

"Whatever you say Tala. Oh yeah." Kevin said, walking over to the redhead still in Kai's grasp.

Kai let him go as Kevin walked over and Tala started rubbing his neck, before looking up into deep purple eyes. Then a foot made contact with his thigh.

"OW! Mother fucker!" Tala clutched at his leg. He was then shocked to find himself being hugged by his attacker.

"Thank you Tala. Thank you so much." Kevin murmured.

Tala smiled at the little neko-jin. "My pleasure."

Rei rolled off Bryan, allowing the Russian to sit up.

"Kevin? Hands off my boyfriend. I think Lee may be getting jealous."

Kevin released Tala from his death grip and smiled. "I hand him over to your very capable hands. Remember to gag him. Not only because I think some people want sleep tonight."

"I did not need to hear that." Johnny said loudly from his position of lounging on the couch.

"Yes you did _Jonathan_, admit it." Tala said as he draped himself over Bryan.

Johnny growled but said nothing.

Lee looked over everyone and smiled when he saw Rei. He was curled up next to Kai and was dozing off on the floor.

"Guys, I think it's officially time for bed now. Reis falling asleep, and so am I."

Everyone else voiced how tired they were and everyone split up into their rooms.

Kai crouched beside Rei and shook his shoulder gently. "Rei?"

His only answer was an incoherent grumble from the neko-jin. Kai sighed and couldn't find it in his heart to fully wake up the almost asleep Rei. He snaked one arm underneath Rei's shoulders and the other underneath his knees and picked him up bridal-style. He stood up slowly, surprised at how light Rei was.

"Kai? What-?"

"Going to bed Rei. Say goodnight to everyone."

"'K. Night everyone!" Rei said sleepily, and then snuggled back into the warmth that was Kai. Kai blushed and nodded, his way of saying goodnight at the moment, and walked into the room he would be sharing with Rei.

Kai laid Rei on his bed and proceeded to tuck the neko-jin in, using the opportunity to stare unashamedly at him. When his task was done, Kai straightened and made his way over to his own bed, lying on top of the blankets, deep in thought.

"Kai?" Rei asked sleepily.

"Yeah?"

"I can't fall asleep."

Kai blinked. "But you were practically asleep out there. What happened?"

"I don't know. I'm tired, but I can't get to sleep."

Kai sighed and stood up, walked over to Reis bed and lay down next to Rei.

"Kai?"

Kai gently started running his fingers through Reis bangs. Rei purred gently and leaned into the touch. Kai continued to run the fingers of one hand through his bangs, while the other hand undid the clasp to Rei's hair wrap and lets the ebony waterfall free.

Rei closed his eyes and let himself enjoy the feeling of Kai's hands running through his hair. Normally he couldn't stand anyone coming near his hair. Kai was different, though. He didn't know why. Rei felt himself drifting into the same type of trance as he had before.

Kai smiled gently when he realized that Rei had fallen asleep and, too tired to go to his own bed, curled up beside Rei.

However, they were woken only two hours later to an unearthly scream. Both sat up and looked at each other, not seeming to care that they were in the same bed. They only registered one thing.

"Something's happened to Tyson."

* * *

Please Tell us what you think! 


	5. Chapter 5

**PandaPjays: **Heya everyone back for yet another exciting and riveting chapter!

**Animeobsession: **Short, but riveting. And why is it short you ask? You tell them or me?

**PandaPjays: **I nominate you

**Animeobsession: **Fine. I'm going on holiday for 4 weeks starting...tomorrow! Or today. Or yesterday depends on when you're reading it. Just know that I'm leaving on Friday.

**PandaPjays: **Which means sadly no updates while she's having fun holidaying without us all /sniff/

**Animeobsession: **I FOUND THE BIG AD!

**Animeobsession: **Don't worry; you can come in a suitcase.

**PandaPjays: **Yay! I hope you have one with a TV and a coffee machine

**Animeobsession: **We'll just buy you a load of coffee beforehand…and give you sleeping pills…Lots of them.

**PandaPjays: **Yay! Sleeping pills are fun! Anyways- back to actually talking about what we're meant to be talking about... what are we meant to be talking about?

**Animeobsession: **Um...how sorry we are for the shortness of the chapter and why it's so short? And that I found the Big Ad?

**PandaPjays: **ah right- the big ad is awesome... anyway are we going to reply to reviews or are we going to crash for the night/morning?

**Animeobsession: **Reviews. The last time I'll reply for 4 weeks /sob/

**PandaPjays: **Righteo then

**Animeobsession: **u first?

**PandaPjays: **_Lainy-_ Tala didn't already scare you? I think he'd look cute as a maid

**Animeobsession: **_DaaKu Hisaki -_We had to cut it off there. If we didn't it wouldn't be a horror.

**PandaPjays: **_dimonyo-anghel-_ I have no idea I'm just going to nod and smile /nods and smiles/

**Animeobsession: **_Satan-Kitty12-_We like Tala too. And Kai and Rei. And Kai and Rei together.

**PandaPjays: **_SilverYoukai2496-_ Here's your update as requested

**Animeobsession: **_Echo in the Dark-_ Socks...has more meaning than you think.

**PandaPjays: **_Prozacfairy-_ Yes Rei and Kai are cute- and happy ending is debatable- don't actually know the ending yet

**Animeobsession: **_Jamie Kay-_ Yes we are writing more.

**PandaPjays: **_Lady-Nikki-_ The evil fire is -cool-... except hot and fire-like

**Animeobsession: **_Knight Kitten-_ this is horror. Just that we haven't started it yet. We're luring you in and giving you a false sense of hope. But be aware that no one will read our story and come out...ok. And Lee/Kevin is cute. I love it.

**PandaPjays: **_jayhay-_ and once again you haven't reviewed all my stories- tough break hey? I guess you're just going to have to read this chapter to find out what happens hey?

**Animeobsession: **_SilkYuzu-_ They'll be getting plenty of time alone /winks/

**PandaPjays: **_kaieshakai-_ Kai and Rei are cute- I can't wait for them to get together either I'm glad that you liked the wrestle- based on true-life experience... not mine though

**Animeobsession: **_Dark Shadowess-_ Man, I've never made someone laugh until they've wet themselves. But I HAVE made people laugh till they're fallen off their chair/cried/fell on the ground and started rolling. I've also done all of those things.

**PandaPjays: **_Shin Rigel-_ Here's more for you to read- I can so imagine Tala singing his own rendition of Whitney too! Anyways enjoy this chapter

**Animeobsession: **_JuliansGIrl-_Nice nice nice, to to to see see see you you you liked liked liked it it it.

**PandaPjays: **_Peggy-chan the anime fan -_ /raises eyebrow/ weird in a good way right?

**Animeobsession: **_Kumori-hime- _YAY Seshy! The fluff will grow, but so will the pain...

**PandaPjays: **_BloodyShadows -_ I'm glad that you liked the chapter /basks in school holidays/ there are times when I love Australian schools- not many times but some times

**Animeobsession: **_TragedyK-_ I love insane people.

**PandaPjays: **_tntiggris-_ lol I'm guessing that you like fluffy moments- plenty more to come.

**Animeobsession: **_BloodyDevil _- here's the next one for you!

**Animeobsession: **And this is a side note for _kaieshakai_, the wrestle actually happened to me… It was one summer's day during PE…Actually it was winter, but whatever.

**PandaPjays: **Flashback- cue swirl out

**Animeobsession: **We were doing gymnastics in PE. One of the boys was walking past just as I did a forward roll. Bowling him over. Which led to someone else falling down, and so on and so forth. We all ended up wrestling on the floor, with our PE teacher trying to get us to stop. And the bits inside the wrestling you see are actually fairly close to what was happening for us.

**PandaPjays: **Annnnd cue swirl out to present time

**Animeobsession: **/sighs and steals Pandas coffee/

**PandaPjays: **HEY! Coffee!

**Animeobsession: **Ok, On with the fic/sips coffee/

**PandaPjays: **Anyway- while I fight for my coffee's right for ingestion by me enjoy reading

**Animeobsession: **/ wrestle with the coffee/

* * *

Rei jumped out of the bed he and Kai were sharing and promptly fell over. He cursed under his breath in Chinese as he struggled to untangle the sheet from his legs. Finally free, Rei raced out of the door of the bedroom, heading in the direction of Tyson's scream, Kai hot on his heels. 

They weren't the only ones. The door across from them burst open only a few seconds after their door did, Tala falling out and landing on the carpet before scrambling to his feet. Bryan jogged out after him.

The four teens looked at each other, Kai and Rei noticing how flushed the two other teens were before another scream punctured the night.

Rei picked up speed, running past Tala and Bryan following the sound of the scream with his sensitive hearing. He didn't know how he knew but this scream wasn't from a nightmare or anything else innocent. This was a scream of terror and possibly pain.

Those thoughts made Rei's mind go into a whirlwind of panic. What had happened? Was Tyson all right?

He could hear other door opening behind them as the other teams poked their heads out to see what was happening.

When he finally reached Tyson's door he saw Max trying to open it but it was locked. "Max! Move!" Rei yelled, and kicked the door, hard.

He felt the flimsy lock snap under the force of the kick. The door slammed open to reveal an empty bed. Rei scanned the room quickly, looking for his friend but couldn't find any trace of him. Suddenly he remembered one of Tyson's annoying habits. When he wanted a midnight snack he'd rig the door of his room to lock itself when he went out so no one would suspect anything. Tyson was quite adept at picking his own lock. He had always said that it kept his intellect sharp.

"TYSON!" Rei called, running out of his room. He listened to the sound of his own voice reverberating around the house. Even with his hearing he couldn't locate the other just using sound. The house just bounced it right back.

After his voice stopped echoing there was a heavy silence, where everyone held his or her breath.

Then there was a pained wail from the kitchen.

Rei ran in the direction he thought he kitchen was in. The sound of Tyson's voice had to be coming from near the kitchen and it sounded the loudest there. He reached the set of stairs that opened out at the bottom into the kitchen and gasped when he saw a figure crumpled at the bottom of the stairs. "TYSON!"

Max, who had been only a few steps behind Rei, ran down the stairs to the young boy.

"Tyson! Tyson what happened?"

Tysons eyes darted about. "They're out to get me Max." He shivered.

"Who is, Tyson?"

"T-t-t-t-t-t-the s-s-so-so-SOCKS!"

Despite himself, Max smiled. "The socks, Tyson? The socks aren't out to get you. Now be serious. What happened? Your arm looks like it's broken. Are you hurt anywhere else?" The blonde crouched down beside Tyson. "Though I'm glad to see that you still have your sense of humour. It's a good sign."

"I'm not kidding! The socks are out for me! I was walking down the hall and I tripped on something and it was a sock and I called it 'stupid and smelly' and it reared up like a snake and leapt at me! And then all these other socks came from out of no where and all leapt at me so I ran and then I was at the stairs and they all jumped on me and I fell!" Tyson said, waving his arm madly.

Max sighed. "I think you bumped your head on your way down Tyson."

Tyson nodded. "I did! A lot! Stairs are really dangerous! But it's true Maxie! How many times have I fallen down stairs before? Hardly ever! And that was only because someone pushed me! I'm not that klutzy. The socks pushed me! They were acting like they were possessed!"

Max nodded slowly, a frown of concern on his face. "Right. Lucky we're going to the hospital to get that arm set."

"But Max! What about everyone else! What if the socks attack them too! Then what? What if the socks KILL someone!" Tyson waved his arms madly again, before letting out a loud 'Ouch!' as the broken arm cracked.

Max inwardly sighed. Just his luck that he had a slight crush on a mentally unstable sock-a-phobic. "It's ok. The socks won't kill anyone. Tala will make sure of that won't he?" He asked, pointedly looking at the redhead.

"Oh... Um... Yes. No sock shall hurt anyone on my watch."

Tyson gave him a skeptical look, but nodded. "I trust you. You wont let anyone get hurt. Guard them well Tala, for the socks are evil. They jump out from the shadows, like...like...like NINJAS! They're NINJA SOCKS! And they're dangerous!"

Kevin pulled a face. "What? Do they have Awesome Ninja Sock Techniques or something?"

Tyson's eyes widened. "You're in league with them! How would you know if you weren't?" He tried to point at Kevin accusingly but used his broken arm. An audible snap graced the rooms' occupant's ears. "OUCH!"

"Has anyone called an ambulance yet?" Rei asked suddenly.

"I don't think there's any phones here." someone replied.

"OH! I have a mobile!"

"Thanks Mariah."

Mariah ran back to her room, ignoring Tyson shouts to her to not go alone and returned with a hot pink mobile, which, Kai noted, had 'I Love Rei!' written on the back in Liquid Paper. He shuddered.

Tyson, seeing the Pink One return safely went back to accusing Kevin, something that everyone found amusing.

"Don't trust him! He's got Socketeer written all over him!"

"Tyson shut up and stop being uncouth. If you hadn't been such a klutz and fallen-"

"I was pushed!"

"-down the stairs we'd all still be in bed. The least you could do is be silent while we try to help you."

Tyson lowered his head and bit his lip, clutching at his arm. Max glared at the German noble.

"Oh very nice Robert. He just fell down the stairs for Christ's sake! If you feel that way about it then go back to bloody bed!"

"Hey! Just because your love-interest fell down the stairs doesn't mean that you have to take it out on Robert! If it wasn't Robert's catch-phrase I'd call you uncouth!" Johnny glared at Max from his position beside the German.

"Would you two please stop! I'm getting a headache! Everyone go to bed if you want to fight, because I wont have you fighting at 2am in the fucking morning!"

With a few grumbles of "Tell us if anything happens," several people went to bed.

"Great to see I'm loved." Tyson grumbled, to himself. "Hey... What did Johnny mean when he was talking about love-interests?"

Max blushed. He was hoping Tyson had missed that part of Johnny's rant. "Oh... Nothing."

Tyson shrugged. "Whatever. I'm more worried about those socks at the moment."

Max rolled his eyes, but said nothing.

"Thanks, we'll see you soon." Rei shut off the mobile and handed it back to Mariah. "Ok, the ambulance is on its way." He then turned to Mariah who was staring at the phone in her hands like it was something to be treasured as 'The phone that Rei spoke into'. "Why do you have that anyway? It's not like we get reception in the village anyway."

Mariah huffed. "We spend a lot of time outside the village now. We have an apartment in Hong Kong, remember?"

Rei scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Oops. I'd forgotten about that."

Mariah sniffed. "You might remember that sort of stuff if you actually came to stay with us every now and again." Rei opened his mouth to reply but Mariah held up her hand, stopping him. "I know you live in Japan, Rei. I just wish that you'd come for a holiday over to us every so often."

Kai growled slightly. It was obvious that Mariah just wanted Rei to stay with them so that he'd be near _her._

"Stupid pink freak." Kai muttered under his breath. Luckily Mariah didn't hear. Rei, however, did. He chuckled slightly. Tala had heard it too. But he laughed out loud. Loudly. Which caused a door to open and a pillow to fly out and smack him in the back of the head.

"SHADDUP!" came the sleepy yell of Spencer. "SOME OF US WISH TO SLEEP! We're not going to get much chance as soon as Tala and Bryan get back to bed." He added as an afterthought before shutting the door again and collapsing on his bed.

Tala blinked. "It's his fault for choosing the bedroom next to ours."

And from behind one of the banisters, a sock peered out, only just enough for Rei to see it as he looked up the stairs to Tala, who was now complaining to Bry that his head hurt.

_------_

"Well that was a headache and a half." Kai said as He closed the door of Rei's and his shared bedroom. "What the hell was Tyson going on about with the sock thing?"

"I don't know." Rei said musingly. He knew that he had seen _something_ earlier on. He was just too tired to care. "God I'm beat. Being woken up in the middle of the night really isn't my area."

Kai nodded solemnly, then let out a large yawn. He got into his own bed, waiting for Rei to join him, when he remembered that Rei had a separate bed.

Damn. What were the odds that we'd choose a room with TWO beds instead of just one. One would be much comfier.

Rei slid into his own bed and sighed softy, pulling his sheets up to his chin and curling into them. He had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to sleep but he had to give it a shot. The neko-jin shut his eyes and tried to slip into the land of unconsciousness.

5 minutes later and still Rei couldn't fall asleep. It was obvious that Kai couldn't too, seeing as how his breathing was still uneven.

"Kai?" Rei said gently.

"What's the matter Rei?"

"I can't get to sleep again. Can you do what you did before? That seemed to work. Please?"

Kai's eyes snapped open in shock. Rei actually wanted Kai in the same bed as him? He was sure that a parade was about to come around the corner, trombones blaring. Heck, if he weren't so damn tired he'd participate. But then he couldn't spend time with Rei. Decisions, Decisions.

Well, not much of a decision. Kai threw back his covers and walked over to Rei's bed, crawling in beside the neko-jin.

The phoenix and the tiger simply stared at each other for a moment. Then, slowly, Kai raised his hand to Reis bangs again. Reis eyelids immediately drooped and he started purring, leaning into the touch. Kai pulled Rei's elastic out of his hair (Rei had put his hair up after they got into the room.) and ran his hands gently through the longer part of his hair.

Rei snuggled into his pillow and shivered, both because of Kai's attention to his hair and because of the fact that it was snowing outside. Not really thinking, he instinctively moved closer to the warmest thing on the bed- otherwise known as Kai. Rei buried his head into Kai's chest, his purring increasing when he found the steady rhythm of the Russian's heartbeat. _So Kai does have a heart after all,_ he thought absently as he drifted off to sleep.

Kai smiled at the neko-jin, burying his face in the raven hair and taking in a large breath. _God. Thank you. You've given me a shot at heaven. And I wont let you down._ He smiled into Reis hair. _I don't know what happened to Tyson, Rei. But I do know that whatever it was, it won't be happening to you._

Meanwhile, in Ian and Spencer's shared room.

"Tala! Bryan! Shut the fuck up!"

The smaller of the two winced when he heard a loud thump against the wall that they shared with the other room. "That sounded painful."

"I don't really care." Spencer told him, holding a pillow over his ears and lying facedown on his bed. "How come they can't ravish each other _quietly_?

"Because this is Tala we're talking about."

"Good point."

Another yell came through the wall.

"Fuck dammit, would you SHUT UP!"

"You know, I think they're getting louder _just_ to spite us."

There was another thump and they heard a yell from what sounded like the room on the other side of Tala and Bryans, occupied by Oliver, who had his own room.

------

When it became a more decent hour of the morning, Tala opened the door of his bed room and peered outside, checking both ways to make sure that the coast was clear of any irate Frenchmen or Russians. Seeing that there was no one there, Tala stepped outside of the room and shut the door behind him. Bryan was still fast asleep.

However, Tala had only walked 5 steps when he heard one of the most terrifying sounds in his life.

"Tala."

Tala turned slightly, eyes widening in terror as he spotted a green haired teen.

"Tu...es... MORT!"

Oliver leapt at the redhead in a wild rugby tackle. He connected with Tala and both of them fell to the ground, Tala's body softening Oliver's fall. Oliver wrapped his hands around Tala's neck and began to try to strangle the Russian.

"HELP! RAPE! RAPE!" Tala yelled, using up the last of his oxygen.

The door to Bryan and Tala room opened and a sleepy, half-dressed Bryan looked out at the two teens.

Seeing that Tala was in danger of dying, he moved to get Oliver off him, only to trip on the hall runner and seemingly tackle Oliver.

Oliver screeched and turned around to attack Bryan, grabbing fistfuls of lavender hair and releasing Tala's throat. The redhead gasped as his lungs filled with air again.

"What the hell was that for?" Tala asked when Bryan had the Frenchman safely pinned.

"For the two of you keeping me up all night!" Oliver said angrily, occasionally spitting out curses in French.

"Speaking of that." Tala groaned. "Do you two mind if you get off me? My ass is killing me."

Bryan noticed that he had pinned Oliver across Tala's body and quickly released the green haired boy. "Oh. Sorry."

"That was far too much information."

"We're just getting you ready for when you admit how you feel to Enrique. Then it'll be _you_ that's keeping everyone else up." Tala said with a smirk.

Then his smirk turned into a childish grin and he rolled down the hall a little, stopping at Kai and Rei's door and pressing his ear to the wood. Bryan raised an eyebrow at his boyfriend. "Tala what are you-?" Tala raised a hand to silence him and dragged himself to his feet. He quietly opened the door and looked in.

Even from where they stood, the two could easily see the happy grin on his face.

"Oh God." Bryan said, staring at Tala in horror. "They're not naked are they?"

Tala shut the door and giggled. "Why Bryan? Jealous? I've seen Kai naked before you know."

Oliver's eyes widened and he put his hands over his ears. "I don't want to know."

"Not jealous. I've seen him naked too you know."

Tala's jaw dropped. "WHAT!"

"Brief fling. Shorter than yours and Kai's though…"

Tala held up his hand. "Let's drop the subject ok?"

"Agreed."

Tala stretched before wincing. "Damn, Bry. You were rough last night."

Bryan shrugged. "Hn."

"Ok Bry, you can stop pulling a Kai on me."

"What were you smiling about Tala?"

Tala grinned. "Take a look for yourself."

Bryan stood up and walked over to Tala. "Do I really want to know? The things that make you smile aren't what makes normal people smile."

Tala grinned. "You make me smile, Bry."

"My point exactly."

Tala sighed and put his hand on the door handle, swing the door open enough to show Bryan what was inside the room.

Bryan poked his head in, followed by Oliver, who had been forgotten by the two Russians and they both gasped.

Kai and Rei were in one bed; Rei curled into Kais side with his head on Kais chest. Kai had one arm wrapped around Reis waist and the other was on his head, Rei's hair curled around Kais fingers.

Bryan grinned and withdrew his head. He looked at Tala with an eyebrow raised.

"You scare me with your matchmaking ability."

Tala nodded enthusiastically. "I scare myself with my brilliance sometimes."

"And that modesty is truly astounding."

"Uh-huh- HEY!" Tala scowled at his boyfriend. "That was uncalled for."

Oliver had snuck away while the two started arguing, or rather Tala started arguing and Bryan laughed.

It was still odd to hear the usually stoic Russian laugh. In fact, the change all the Russians had gone through was rather scary, but never mind that. All Oliver cared about at the moment was the love that had been in that room. After all, Oliver was French, and therefore, attracted to love.

Oliver sighed and walked down the stairs Tyson had fallen down earlier that day. He knew that he had to scrounge up some food to cook breakfast for everyone. _Ok… there's me, Enrique, Robert, Johnny, Tala, Bryan, Ian, Spencer, Rei, Kai, Kenny, Miguel, Claude, Aaron, Mati, Mariah, Lee, Kevin, Gary, Michael, Emily, Eddy and Steve… how many people is that? _The Frenchman tried to count on his fingers but failed. _Lets just say that I'm going to be here a long time._

Meanwhile, Talas' yelling and Bryans laughing had woken Kai and Rei up. Well, it had woken Kai up, Rei was still half asleep, even more so because Kai was unknowingly giving him a head massage as he ran his fingers through the top of Reis hair.

Rei snuggled more into Kais chest and let out a loud yawn. Kai smiled at him and leaned forward to kiss the top of his head.

Then they both realized how they were laying and what they were doing.

"Holy shit! Sorry Kai! Aw, Jesus!" Rei hopped away from Kai, a deep blush on his face. Kai was blushing too, but not as much as Rei.

Rei blinked and swayed on his feet. "Remind me not to get up that fast again." He told Kai before falling over.

Kai's eyes widened before he went over to where Rei was and looked down on the neko-jin who was on the ground clutching his head. "Owwwww. Headspin."

Kai smiled at Rei, before frowning.

"What's the matter, Kai?" Rei asked as his headspins wore off and he noticed the unhappy look on the Russians face.

"Can you hear something? Outside the room?" Rei closed his eyes and listened.

"Yup. Someone is talking really angrily, but someone else is laughing, which means that Tala is probably angry again."

Kai raised an eyebrow. "Why's Tala arguing right outside our room?"

Rei shrugged. "How should I know?"

"Methinks we have a spy."

"Why the hell would he want to spy on us?"

"He's Tala. Does he need an explanation?"

"True."

Kai walked over to the door and, after a moments hesitation, pulled it open to find Tala, whose face was the same color as his hair (a difficult feat) glaring at Bryan, who was rolling around on the floor laughing.

Kai raised an eyebrow.

"Do I even wanna know?"

Rei came up behind Kai and looked out at the Russian on the ground. "No. No you don't."

"Didn't think so."

Tala glowered at his boyfriend. "It –isn't- funny."

Bryan gasped for breath then looked confused. "What am I laughing about?"

Tala frowned. "Me… I think… I can't remember…"

Bryan burst out laughing again. "Why can't I stop laughing then?" He tried to close his mouth but instead let out a burst of chuckles. "HELP! I've got some weird sort of laughing disease!"

Rei giggled at the laughing Russian. Kai looked at him in mock horror.

"Oh crap! It's infectious!" Tala laughed at that, soon joining his boyfriend on the floor.

Rei was laughing too. Kai, however, wasn't. Which led to Rei poking him in his sides. Kai stiffened. Then tried to worm away from the poking fingers, while suppressing a chuckle.

Rei giggled and poked Kai harder. "Come on you know you want to laugh."

Kai tried to keep a straight face. "No. It's too early in the morning."

"What better time to laugh? Then no one can hear you and you get to keep your reputation as being a cold bastard."

"Except with you, Kitten."

"That reputation was shot as soon as you called me a kitten, mate."

Kai gave him a look. "Mate?"

"Oops. I guess my time in Australia is coming back to haunt me."

"You were in Australia?"

"Yup. Twice. Once while I was traveling. And at the last tournament, remember?"

Kai's eyes lit up slightly in recognition. "Oh yeah."

Rei dug his fingers into Kais sides again. "Now, in return for telling you that, you _will_ laugh."

Kai smirked and stepped away from the neko-jin's fingers. "Uh… no."

Tala sat up. "If it came down to a fight between astronauts and cavemen- who do you think would win?"

Rei blinked and looked down at the redhead. "Wha-? Random?"

"Yes- but who do you think?" Tala blinked innocently.

"Uh… Do they have weapons?"

"No."

"Um... probably cavemen. They have to survive in the wilderness."

"Yes but astronauts have superior knowledge." Kai interjected.

"So? It's all about primal instinct!" Rei told him. "Cavemen would win hands down."

"But the astronauts would know how to disable them with their better technology."

"No weapons remember?"

"So? What did cavemen have going for them? Big brows and a noncommittal grunt? Without their big sticks they were nothing."

"Dude, you have a noncommittal grunt. It's called 'Hn' and you use it all the time." Rei said as he dashed around trying to get Kai's sides.

Bryan snorted. "Maybe he's devolved." Kai stopped running.

"Hey, now wait just a minute, I-" When Kai had stopped running, Rei had gotten to his sides.

There was a heavy silence. Kai started chuckling as Rei wiggled his fingers around in his sides.

Rei cackled. He had made Kai laugh! It was almost an earth-shattering event… almost. He didn't want the world to end just yet- they had to have breakfast after all.

_------_

In the kitchen's fireplace a small flame burned. It had selected its first victim. The first of many. They had been warned. If they did not listen it would have to make them listen. It would not be imprisoned again.

* * *

Please review and tell us what you think- As mentioned up there in our ramblings we won't be updating for a while but still review because we love to hear what you think! 


	6. Chapter 6

**Animeobsession: **I'M BACK!

**PandaPjays: **In case if you didn't get that... she's back

**Animeobsession: **I had /fun/.

**PandaPjays: **I moped

**Animeobsession: **There there.

**PandaPjays: **heh heh but then I laughed with funny holiday tales

**Animeobsession: **I met Johnny! Shall I tell them the tale?

**PandaPjays: **/sits down with rest of class/ do tell, sensei

**Animeobsession: **It was one overcast day in Scotland. I had found an arcade thingy. There was a guy there who wanted a challenge when it came to air hockey. Winner bought drinks. I agreed. Over the next few minutes, I thrashed his ass. Grumpy, he bought drinks and we watched people on DDR. I soon found out that his name was Johnny. And, soon after that, I found out that he loved Beyblade. I was thrilled. Had I met the Gladiator of Glasgow? Unfortunately, no. However, I did meet a new friend. We told each other our emails, having no pen or paper handy and went our separate ways. But then I forgot his email address, and haven't got an email so I'm suspecting he either forgot or doesn't want to talk to me. The end.

**PandaPjays: **That's a rather depressing ending

**Animeobsession: **I know/sob/

**PandaPjays: **/pats you on back/ there there

**Animeobsession: **By the way, this chapter contains fond memories from the plane, and my trip overseas, along with something that Johnny was doing i.e. trying not to swear.

**PandaPjays: **It also contains much randomness and insaness- but what else have you come to expect?

**Animeobsession: **And the word boobs.

**PandaPjays: **my point exactly

**Animeobsession: **And it contains Mahjongg, a game I played on the plane, and Panda owns /glare/ GIMMIE!

**PandaPjays: **Ah... no- I have to con my mother into showing me how to play first- then I'll kick your ass

**Animeobsession: We**'ll see about that!

**PandaPjays: **We will indeed. Anyways reviews?

**Animeobsession:** Yes you first

**PandaPjays: **Ok then _Echo in the Dark_- /runs from evil sock/ Not exactly a quick update but save us anyway?

**Animeobsession: **_DaaKu Hisaki_- Sorry to keep you waiting. But I'm sure this chapter will make up for it.

**PandaPjays: **_KawaiiYoukai9517-_ I'm so glad that you liked it! Hope you enjoy this chapter too!

**Animeobsession: **_I-Ain't-No-F'in-Angel- _Dont worry, she'll die... soon...

**PandaPjays: **_ChaosOverRide-_ Heh heh I can so see Tyson screaming from hunger. I'm glad that you liked the idea of the socks

**Animeobsession: **_Youkolove -_Don't steal Kai! We need him/snickers at Panda covered in sauce/ Poor panda.

**PandaPjays: **_cute-little-Yugi-_ No, the worst type of socks are smelly moldy ones that have been stuffed behind the washing machine for a few months... personal experience /shudders/

**Animeobsession: **_Zoranie-_I think this one is funnier. I hope anyway.

**PandaPjays: **_Lainy-_ You're in a fluff mood now? I'm not even going to try to keep track of your moods anymore. I have no idea if that's how you spell extinguisher I didn't bring my trusty dictionary

**Animeobsession: **_Lady-Nikki-_Nikki-chan! There's more evil then that to come. Believe me. /grins evilly/

**PandaPjays: **_jayhay-_ And once again you haven't reviewed all my fics- sucks to be you huh? LOTS of people have a 'thing' for Kai. He's just got a 'thing' vibe. I'm glad that you like it /grins manically/ much more to come

**Animeobsession: **_kaieshakai-_They're going to get together. But we're holding it off so we can have most flustered moments. They're fun to write. And it means we can use our gutter minds to get them into awkward situations, which are even more fun to write.

**PandaPjays: **_Katsutoshi96-_ Here's more of our story to read! lol I'm glad you like it

**Animeobsession: **_river rae -_Nice to see you like it so much!

**PandaPjays: **_whitespirit04-_ Argh! Creepy beauty and the beast candlesticks are out to get us all!

**Animeobsession: **_Dark Shadowess-_Kai isn't the victim...yet

**PandaPjays: **_Faina-_ Heh heh I'm glad that you think it's cute in any language... how many different languages can you say cute in now? Is it just the three?

**Animeobsession: **_Forever-Bleeding-Fox-_It is pretty cool. Tala makes me smile too. I luff him. And Rei. And Kai. And Kevin. And.../starts listing/

**PandaPjays: **_Platinum Rei-_ Ego stroke! I'm glad that you like it!

**Animeobsession: **_black knight10-_She won't die first, sadly. But she will die soon. I luff LeeKevin. There's not enough of it.

**PandaPjays: **_the kaichou of the world- _GAH! Big Ego stroke! heh heh laughing for some minutes reading a sentence? I think you just made my head grow a few inches more

**Animeobsession: **_Snow White Suicide-_We know they don't need her. But we can't kill her yet. As for Tala, yes he is drool worthy. Pervy Tala is good Tala. And I've discovered that two people working together make a fic funnier.

**PandaPjays: **_tntiggris-_ YAY! Glad that you liked it!

**Animeobsession: **_Neko-jin Warrior-_ Made you laugh for hours? Sweet! Screw your sister. If she doesn't get good humor then humph to her! And the ego stroke was very nice!

**Animeobsession: **Damn I love our story.

**PandaPjays: **OoOo Completely random point!

**Animeobsession: **/pokes at sauce still on Panda after Youkolove threw it/ Hehehehe.

**PandaPjays: **I was playing with this awesome Japanese word processor thing at school and so was doing my name in Kanji to see what it meant? I never knew my name was so accurate 'Woman Ego'

**Animeobsession: **O.O What the?

**PandaPjays: **wipes sauce on AnimeO Freaky, yes?

**Animeobsession: **Hey/glares/

**PandaPjays: **Well, you were already getting it on your finger by poking me so I decided to be generous and give you the rest /smiles sweetly/

**Animeobsession: **Darn you. BTW, if anyone here reads my fic Illawarra Lovin, the next chapter should be up sometime next week. Either that or my oneshot.

**PandaPjays: **lol shameless plug much? But while we're on the subject- I'm trying to write the next chapter of Innocence fast- there's just a lot of stuff to cram in

**Animeobsession: **Any other advertisements?

**Animeobsession: **None from me.

**PandaPjays: **Try the veal!

**Animeobsession: **Well, enjoy!

* * *

Oliver, who had been cooking chocolate chip pancakes (drool) turned to the fireplace in the kitchen and blinked a few times at the fire crackling away. 

Blink.

Blink.

"I don't remember lighting that."

The Frenchman sighed. His memory hadn't been the greatest lately. There'd been that time when he'd been staring at Enrique, forgetting that he needed to try out a new attack ring on his blade. The there was that time when he had spaced out thinking about Enrique when he had just put on a cheese sauce… it had taken weeks to get the burning smell out of the kitchen… Then there had been that time when… Oliver stopped himself from spacing out remembering that he didn't want to face the wrath of a lot of angry, _hungry_ bladers.

He went back to flipping the pancakes and finishing off the breakfast. Then something struck him. "Where the hell are we going to eat?"

"Good question" Spencer told him, walking into the room, rubbing his eyes. He sighed before pulling out one of the chairs in front of the kitchen bench and sprawling out on the surface of the bench. "Nnhn" He groaned, closing his eyes.

Oliver smirked. "Get much sleep?"

"Did anyone?"

"I didn't. You didn't. I'm guessing big nose didn't."

"His nose isn't _that_ big."

"Yes it is."

"...Ok, maybe it is big. And no, Ian didn't get any sleep either. Stupid flucking Tala and flucking Bryan."

"Fluck?"

"I'm trying to stop swearing."

"Good luck with that. Do you think you could move yourself enough to go and look for a dining room?"

"Depends what's in it for me."

"A shiny Euro?"

"Isn't that meant to be a shiny nickel?"

"I don't have any nickels on me. So will you go and look?"

"Nnhn" Spencer buried his face in his arms for a moment before shoving his chair backwards. Unfortunately he miscalculated and ended up tipping the chair over backwards- his huge frame falling with it "SHIT!"

"There goes that resolution." Oliver quipped.

"Shut up."

Spencer picked himself up off the floor, righted the chair and walked to a door connected to the room (not the one he came through), thinking logically that the dining room would be near the kitchen.

Luckily, logic was right.

"Holy Sh-" Spencer stopped himself. "Moley." The dining room was _huge_. It looked like it could fit everyone in the house in it plus a circus and their monkey. The table was covered with a large white sheet that Spencer quickly removed, revealing a long wooden table in the style of a royal dining room or similar. "Merde." He said softly, every room in this house made him feel more and more jealous of Rei's luck.

"I _heard_ that" Oliver called from the kitchen. "Swearing in different languages still counts."

"You'd swear too if you saw how big this room is- wait you're one of the rich kiddos aren't you? So you probably wouldn't think much of it."

"I might, just let me- HOLY MERCIFUL CRAP!"

Spencer raised an eyebrow. "I expected you to swear at least."

Oliver puffed out his cheeks. "I did swear."

"I don't count crap as a swear word."

"And this is why you, my friend, are uncouth"

Spencer looked across at the green haired boy. "You aren't turning into Robert on me are you?"

"Oh God no!"

"Good to hear. I'm hungry"

"That would be the point of breakfast."

"Then go make it!"

"Yes master for I am your slave."

"And don't you forget it." Spencer told him with a smirk.

"Who is who's slave-MARY MOTHER OF GOD!" The two teens turned to look at Claude as he stood just inside the door gaping at the room.

"It's big, no?" Spencer said, starting to shove Oliver into the kitchen, along with quiet mutters of 'make food. I'm damn hungry.'

Oliver grumbled but allowed Spencer to push him back into the kitchen. "I'd like to see you try to cook enough to feed everyone."

"No. No you really wouldn't." Spencer told him, depositing the Frenchman in front of the stove. "My cooking is worse than Tala's."

Oliver raised his eyebrows. "That's nigh on impossible."

"Want to make a bet?"

"No. I'm fine."

"OCH AYE!"

Spencer and Oliver blinked. Then blinked again.

"Was that Johnny?"

Oliver's eyes widened. Johnny only sounded like that when… He cut off _that_ train of thought and went back to making pancakes.

"Do you think he's alright?" Spencer asked, looking at Oliver, concerned.

"He's fine." Oliver answered shortly. As if Tala hadn't been bad now Johnny had to start? Did everyone have to take the term 'screaming orgasm' _quite_ so literally?

"Are you sur-" Spencer began.

"Yes. I'm sure."

_Meanwhile, upstairs._

Three Russians and a Chinese neko-jin stared at the door the led to Johnny and Roberts room.

Rei was the first to speak. "Did you guys just-?"

"Yes, we heard it. Kind of hard not too."

Kai smirked at Tala. "Seems you're not the loudest anymore, Red."

Tala growled. "How DARE they take my title!" He turned to Bryan indignantly. "We were doing so _well_!"

"I don't think _well_ is quite the way to put-" Kai began but was silenced by Rei poking him in the ribs.

"Shh! If we just humor him hopefully he won't try to regain his crown tonight." Rei whispered in Kai's ear by way of explanation.

Kai nodded. Then a bell went off somewhere. "What the-?"

"Everyone! Breakfast!" They heard Oliver yell.

Rei sighed. "Guess that means we got to get everyone up. Bags not getting Johnny and Uncouth Man."

Kai nodded. "Same" He turned to Tala. "I nominate you!"

"M-me?" Tala spluttered.

"Yes you. Rei and I voted and you lost." Kai said smugly before walk off, Rei in tow. "What do you say we take our chances with Miggie and Mati?"

Rei snickered. "I like the sound of that!"

Rei and Kai wandered down the hall to Miguel and Mathilda's' room, quietly opened the door and crept in.

The two lovebirds were curled up in the middle of the bed; luckily Mati had a shirt on.

Kai suddenly remember waking up that morning lying like that with Rei. He blushed slightly.

Rei, meanwhile, was gushing over the cute image. "AWW!"

That woke them up.

"KAI! REI! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING IN HERE?" Mathilda yelled, sitting up too fast. "Whoa… headspin."

"What the- huh?" Miguel asked, woken by Mathilda. "What the hell?"

"Um… Breakfast is ready?" Rei ventured, stepping back behind Kai to hide from the wrath of the pink haired one.

"WHAT? COULDN'T YOU HAVE KNOCKED?" Mathilda asked angrily.

"And miss you screaming at us?" Kai asked. "Calm down. At least you weren't naked."

"What? You were expecting me to be? You PERVERTS!"

Miguel cowered behind his girlfriend. "She's not a morning person," he mouthed to them.

Rei and Kai paled. "RUN FOR IT!"

_Meanwhile, with Tala and Bryan._

"Why do _we_ have to go wake the scary people? Why Bry-Bry? Why?" Tala wailed, arms around Bryan's neck.

Bryan sighed. "Because Johnny's louder than you." Tala suddenly went quiet.

"Oh yeah. I got to beat the crap out of that Scot." Tala attempted to roll up his sleeve, and failed because of all the little belt thingies "JOHNNY! I GOT A SCORE TO SETTLE WITH YOU!"

The sounds from the room ceased. Tala was positive he heard a 'Did you hear something?' In Robert's voice then an incoherent moan from Johnny.

Tala grinned wickedly before turning to Bryan. "I'm going in!" He took his best police pose beside the doorway and quickly turned the knob and burst in, holding his hands in a 'gun-pose'. "FREEZE!"

Bryan stayed outside, however he could hear a lot of swearing, in both English and German, though the English often didn't sound quite right, like it had been altered, or wasn't English at all.

He could also hear Tala laughing madly.

Well, at least his fellow red head hadn't killed him. Was probably trying to keep Tala from seeing him nude.

"Tala, just tell him what you're there for."

"Ok! Johnny, I got a score-"

"The other reason."

"Oh yeah. Breakfast's ready."

Johnny tried to get up to go for Tala's throat, but was held down by Robert. "WHAT!"

Tala continued cackling, leaning against the wall for support. "You should see your face! It's priceless!"

"YOU SHOULD SEE YOUR FACE WHEN I'M DONE WITH IT IVANHOE!"

Robert struggled to keep Johnny down on the bed instead of attacking Tala but Johnny eventually bucked him off and leaped off the bed.

Tala's jaw dropped. "Crap." He said before bolting out the door, a naked and furious Scot after him.

Bryan watched as his boyfriend ran out, followed by the nude Scot, and sighed. Tala got himself into it; he could get himself out of it. He smirked. As for Johnny...his reputation was about to take a nosedive. Or a face plant.

Kai and Rei ran out of Miguel and Mati's room, followed by the angry female.

However they all stopped when they heard Tala's terrified scream. They saw Tala, and then they saw…

"Is that Johnny?" Kai said, squinting slightly, then his eyes widened.

Rei blinked before realizing _what_ he was looking at "ARGH!" He buried he head in Kai's arm. "I don't need to see these things." He mumbled.

Kai patted him on the back consolingly, "I know exactly what you mean." He said, in shock as Tala bolted past them closely followed by Johnny.

They watched, in slight horror, as the naked Scot became the naked _flying_ Scot, as Johnny leapt at Tala. He sailed through the air, catching Tala and slamming the Russian boy into the ground, quickly getting a good hold on his neck.

"RAPE! RAPE!"

Suddenly the door they were in front of opened, and an annoyed, pink haired girl stuck her head out.

"What's with all... the... noise..." Mariah went very quiet as the two redheads looked at her like two deers in headlights.

Tala was the first to say anything. "Uh… Breakfast's ready?" He offered, suddenly becoming painfully aware of the fact that Johnny was straddling him.

Mariah blinked before stepping back into her room and slamming the door. "I'M NOT HUNGRY ANYMORE!" She yelled at them through the door.

Mariah turned to Emily, her roommate. "You _really_ don't want to get out there. It's like a nudist beach colony with Tala as the lifeguard."

Emily raised an eyebrow, but trusted Mariah's judgment.

_------_

The group had gradually woken everyone up. Now they headed down to the kitchen, all _thankfully_ fully dressed.

Oliver's eyes widened as he saw the sheer _number_ of people he was expected to feed. "Is that everyone?" He asked Rei nervously.

"No, Mariah and Emily are holed up in their room, possibly scheming."

"God, is that all they do?"

"And gossip and shop."

"Glad I'm not a girl."

"Why? You look the part." Bryan told him, walking into the kitchen in search of food. He ducked, narrowly avoiding the spatula Oliver threw at him.

It fell into the fireplace with a smack.

"I'll get it." Bryan said as he walked over. There was no fire so-"Ouch!" Bryan shook his hand and looked. The spatula was out of the fireplace, he must have knocked it out, and a fire was crackling away merrily.

Bryan raised an eyebrow. "Funny. It didn't look lit. Maybe the spatula smothered it down, or something." He shrugged and took the spatula back to Oliver.

Oliver snatched it from Bryan "You so deserved to get burnt," he told the Russian.

"What? Did I hurt your manly pride?" Bryan asked, snickering. He started when a pair of arms wrapped themselves around his belly.

"Will you stop teasing him? He can't help it if he's a girly-man." Tala told Bryan seriously. "-And if you so much as think of throwing that spoon at me you _will_ regret it." He told Oliver without turning around. Oliver put down the spoon, guiltily.

The Frenchman started stacking the plates on the counter. He turned to get some more and put them with the others, but the others were gone. He turned to glare and Tala and Bryan but they were obviously too...occupied. He shrugged and after putting some more down, he turned to the last few plates and as he turned to put them with the rest he saw Rei gathering the food plates.

"Rei! What are you doing?"

Rei looked at him. "Being a good host."

"But I-" Oliver decided to give up without starting. It wasn't worth it. This was an argument he couldn't win. "…Ok."

Rei nodded and looked at Tala and Bryan. "When you two have stopped cleaning each others tonsils can you help out by getting everyone seated?" When he was completely ignored, Rei sighed and headed out into the dining room. He almost dropped his plates. "HOLY POO ON A STICK WITH MUSTARD! THIS IS HUGE!"

That got Tala and Bryan to stop sucking the life out of each other.

"I know! I envy you Rei-Rei!" Tala squirmed out of Bryan's arms and ran into the other room, waiting until the plates were on the table, before glomping Rei, knocking the neko-jin to the floor.

"ARGH!" Rei hit the ground hard and skidded until his head hit a chair. "Instant headache!" He said, rubbing his head.

Tala cackled. His landing had been cushioned by the neko-jin. "Huge _and_ a slippery floor! Do you reckon we could push all the tables to the sides and then skate around in socks and play hockey?"

Rei stared at the redhead. "I'm not even going to dignify that question with an answer."

Kai, who had just finished his own wide-eyed staring at the size of the room, started growling at Tala, who was on Rei. The kitten. _His_ kitten. Kai blinked. His?

He shook his head, best not to think of those types of things. Sure, last night with Rei had been… cozy to say the least. But that had only been because Rei was finding it hard to sleep. Who wouldn't? Finding yourself the owner of this huge monster of a manor had to be at least a tiny bit unsettling.

He noted, with some possessive anger that Tala was still laying on the kitten. Growling again, he walked, as calmly as he could, over to Tala and Rei. He quickly grabbed Tala around the middle and hauled him off of Rei, dumping him on the floor.

"HEY!" Tala said, indignantly, picking himself up from the ground. He walked over to Kai, who was holding out his hand to Rei, offering to help the neko-jin up. "Did I _deserve_ that?"

Kai grunted as he pulled the neko-jin to his feet. "Probably not- but it was _fun_"

Tala started pouting at Kai, who rolled his eyes. "I'm not Bryan."

Tala pouted even more and wandered into the kitchen, with cries of "Brrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnn!"

The lavender-haired boy looked up at Tala. "What happened?" He asked when Tala flung himself on to him.

"Kai was being mean!" Tala told him earnestly.

Bryan rolled his eyes before extricating himself from Tala's arms. "Then go be mean back. You're not going to let him win are you?"

For a second Tala looked hurt.

"What? You're not? Don't tell me the big, bad captain of the Blitzkrieg Boys has gone soft and weak." That started Tala up.

"I'm not weak! I just... just..." his voice turned quiet, "I just don't want... to be mean anymore. I want to forget all that the abbey forced into our minds."

Bryan pulled his redheaded lover close. "Hey, it's ok." He kissed Tala on his forehead. "I know what you mean."

Tala sighed and snuggled into Bryan's chest, enjoying the warmth that he found there, the fire in the fireplace didn't seem to be giving out much heat. Tala opened his eyes to look at it.

His eyes widened when he realized that it had gone out again. _Ollie must have put it out. _He reasoned. Still, it was unsettling. Tala buried his face in the folds of Bryan's clothes; he didn't want to think about anything like that at that present moment.

_------_

"Do we have to say grace at breakfast?" Ian asked, already drooling over all the food.

"Um. I don't think so. Do we?"

"Probably not."

"In that case: dig in."

"No more Harry Potter for you, Eddy."

The American rolled his eyes and began to eat his pancakes. "There's going to be none left if he keeps on going at that rate." He said with his mouth full, pointing at Gary.

The neko-jin was ploughing through his pancakes, despite both Lee and Mariah trying to restrain him by holding his arms down. The key word was _trying_ Gary was still enjoying the full use of his arms and his two smaller friends were struggling to remain on their seats.

"Same thing with Little John over there." Kevin said, pointing his knife at Spencer, who was also sucking up food like a vacuum.

"Tyson does that with us. Is there one on every team?" Rei asked, cutting off a piece of his bacon.

"How do you think Tyson is going anyway?" Kenny asked pouring maple syrup all over his meal- he needed the sugar rush after staying up till the early hours in the morning surfing the net.

"He'll be fine." Kai told him, without looking up.

"The silly bugger should have watched where he was going." Claude chimed in.

Matilda looked deep in thought. "Has Tyson always had a fear of socks? Or did he just hit his head too hard?" Everyone turned as one to look at Kenny.

"What?"

"You've known him the longest. Has he always had a fear of socks?" Kenny sighed.

"No. He probably just hit his head too hard. Now where did I put Dizzy...?"

The quiet clicking of a computer mouse and keys slowly filtered through to Kenny's ears. "Dizzy?" He called, looking around for his laptop.

Tala stared at the screen, wildly clicking on the characters on it and selecting different options for them. When a red love heart appeared over the head of his active character Tala grinned manically. "HELL YEAH!" He shouted, pumping his fist in the air. The room fell silent

"Tala?" Kenny asked, looking underneath the table to find the redhead lying down in between the forest of legs staring at Dizzy's screen.

"Bryan loves me! I love Bryan! Life is good. Whoever thought you'd have an awesome game like the Sims on Dizzy?" Tala asked Kenny. "I would have thought it was to childish for you…"

There were many confused blinks as Kenny sat up at the table again. Then the door opened and Emily poked her head in, before opening the door fully.

"It's ok Mariah. They all have clothes on."

"About time!" Mathilda called from her seat next to Miguel. "I'm feeling very outnumbered here!"

"Which reminds me, Mati, do you have to wear a skirt? It's rather uncomfortable lying down here with you wearing one." Tala called.

Mathilda looked down at the pair of jeans she was wearing. "Huh? Tala? I'm not wearing one…"

"Really? Then who is this?" Tala poked the offending pair of legs.

"Stop poking me!" Johnny growled, looking under the table to glare at the Russian.

"JOHNNY? You're wearing a skirt?" Tala asked, trying not to burst out laughing.

"It's called a kilt, Dickwad." Johnny replied curtly, his face turning a faint shade of pink.

"STOP PERVING ON OTHER PEOPLE, IVANHOE!" Mariah yelled. "DIDN'T YOU SEE ENOUGH OF JOHNNY THIS MORNING?"

Tala poked his head out from beneath the table. "Why do you people keep on calling me Ivanhoe?"

"Because you are one!" Tala raised an eyebrow.

"I'm a town in Australia?"

"No you idiot! You're a hoe!"

"I'm not a garden tool."

Mariah threw up her hands in frustration. "Why do I even bother trying to talk to an idiot?"

"Because you think talking to yourself is normal?" Tala offered before ducking beneath the table again to escape the pink one's wrath.

Mariah growled under her breath before taking a seat at the end of the table with Emily, as far away from Tala as possible.

The taping of the keyboard resumed. Apart from that, there was a small silence, apart from the sounds of cutlery scraping on plates, and the sounds coming from Gary and Spencer, then, without warning.

"HOLY SHIT! KENNY YOU PERVY LITTLE NERD!" Kenny went white and ducked under the table. The conversation echoed out from under the table.

"I would never had expected _you_, of all people, to have something like _this_ on your laptop, you pervert."

"Its not mine! Its Dizzy's!" Kenny's indignant cry came out.

Tala snorted. "Right, you really want me to believe that your _laptop_ downloaded hardcore porn."

Suddenly, most of the guys were under the table.

"Kenny! I simply cannot believe you would be so uncouth as to have this on your laptop!" Robert exclaimed, despite this he was using his height advantage over the less fortunate like Kevin to get a front row seat.

"I said it's not mine!"

"Like we'd believe you, dude, I didn't think you had it in you." Michael said appreciatively.

"Hey! Why are you praising him! _I_ downloaded it!" The guys blinked. Then blinked again. "Yes, I am a talking laptop. Partially because I'M A BIT BEAST! Now stop looking at my porn!" The file suddenly closed, followed by shouts of 'Dizzy!' 'Mean!' 'Put the pictures back up! Come on!' and others like them.

Tala, meanwhile, giggled to himself. "Hehe. Dizzy the porn dragon. She hoards her porn and attacks anyone that sees her treasure."

"Damn right." Dizzy mumbled. "Can't you guys go and _eat_ like you're supposed to be doing?"

They all grumbled and began climbing out from underneath the table, back on to their chairs.

"You too Tala."

"Aw! But-"

"Eat. Now." Dizzy ordered, putting on her 'angry-voice'. Tala squeaked and crawled up into Bryan's lap.

_------_

"Weeee!"

"Kevin! Get back here! You haven't got a jacket on!" Kevin ran over to his worried lover and grabbed his jacket, putting it on quickly, before diving into the snow outside the manor.

After the porn incident, everyone had decided to go outside, and search the grounds. Rei had been told that there was an old shed on the grounds and he wanted to check it out.

"Bry! It's cold out here!" Tala complained.

"It's a Russian winter, you've lived here all of your life, you expected anything different?" Bryan asked, reaching down to gather some snow in his hands. When he had shaped it into a ball-like shape he pegged it at Aaron's back before quickly stepping behind Tala in a display of innocence.

"Not really, I just wanted to complain about something." Tala said with a shrug, before running at Oliver, who had just finished walked down the stairs, and tackling him. He then stood up and walked back over to Bryan, who was scowling at Aaron.

Tala sighed a deep, long suffering sigh, which was obviously fake. "What did he do, Bry-Bry?"

"Threw a snowball at me."

"Bry? You threw one first."

"That is completely not the point," Bryan said, wiping excess snow off his jacket.

Rei rolled his eyes and began to make his way through the snow toward a small dark smudge on the horizon, which he assumed was the shed.

"Hey guys! I'm heading over there! Looks like I've found the shed! Anyone coming with?" Within seconds Kai was at his side, as were Lee, Kevin, Tala, Bryan, Eddy and Michael.

"Is everyone else just going to stay here?" Rei asked, just so he knew where everyone was.

"Yes mother!" Rei puffed out his cheeks.

"I was only- never mind." He said sulkily before beginning to wade through the snow toward the shed.

"Why are we going?" Kevin asked after taking two steps. "It's just some old shed."

Lee rolled his eyes. "Because we are- are you coming? Or do I have to carry you?"

Kevin's eye brightened as he held out his arms to be picked up. Lee sighed and scooped up the much shorter boy, placing him on his shoulders.

Tala started doing puppy dog eyes at Bryan.

"No Tala. I'm not going to carry you. You're too damn heavy."

"Are you calling me fat?" Tala said glaring at Bryan.

"If I was calling you fat I'd call you fat." Bryan told Tala, frankly. "As it is, if you tried to sit on my shoulders your legs would reach my knees. It's not happening."

Tala pouted but was ignored by Bryan. "Meanie"

"Proud to hold that title." He replied, unfazed. "So, Rei, What do you reckon we'll find in the shed? Ghosts? Old rusty tools? A nest of rats?"

"Probably old rusty tools and rats. I don't believe in ghosts." Rei said as they walked, though they all noticed him shudder.

"Whets so important about this shed anyway?" Lee asked as they walked, Kevin still on his shoulders.

"Not much. But it's apparently on the outskirts of the Reito Manor lands. Plus I've heard that it's beautiful down there."

"What's there to see?" Michael asked. "There's just snow, snow and more snow."

"And when there's snow there's SNOW FIGHTS!" Tala yelled, tackling Michael to the ground, picking up a pile of snow and dumping it on the American's face.

"HEY!" Michael spluttered, trying to fend off a madly cackling Tala.

Eddy tried to help his teammate but was stopped by Bryan casually sticking out his foot, making Eddy do a face plant in the snow. "Oops." Bryan said flatly.

Kevin kicked at Lee's shoulders. "Let me down! I want to join in!" Lee sighed and leant down, watching in amusement as Kevin attached himself to Bryan's face.

Rei stared at the snow fight. "I'm still going to the shed." He told the general group before turning around and heading off. Kai was the only one to follow him.

The two walked silently, until Kai let out a chuckle.

Rei raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I was just thinking that Tala has started yet _another_ orgy. And we've only been here _two days_."

"Has Tala beaten his record yet?"

"Probably not."

Rei grinned and slowed down, letting Kai catch up with him.

Kai sighed. He had a niggling feeling that Tala was trying to find excuses for him and Rei to be alone. He hated it when Tala played matchmaker. He was annoying. _More_ annoying than usual.

Rei hummed happily to himself. "I can't believe I _own_ all of this. I mean it probably doesn't hold a candle against what you own but still…"

Kai shook his head. "The Hiwatari Manor in Japan is much smaller then Reito Manor. However, the Hiwatari Manor in Russia is bigger. What bugs me is that I've heard of Reito Manor before."

Meanwhile, Rei was looking at him in shock. "There are _two_ Hiwatari Manors?

Kai nodded, then shook his head. "I said the Japanese one was manor but its just mansion, it doesn't have such big grounds. It belonged to my parents. My father had it built before he and my mother moved to Japan to get away from my grandfather. The Russian manor has been passed down for generations, though."

Kai sighed. "Though I don't actually _own_ any of it."

Rei looked at him puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Well, last I checked, Voltaire's the oldest Hiwatari alive so all of the titles to the properties are in his name."

"But he's in jail- isn't he?"

"But also has enough money to be able to pay off the right people and keep all of his possessions and so on and such forth even though he's been maintaining and buying them through illegal means."

Rei whistled softly. "Sucks to be you."

"You're telling me."

"So, when he dies, you inherit both the mansion and the manor?" Rei asked, tilting his head slightly to one side.

"And Hiwatari Enterprises, as well as a nice bank account. But I don't really care if that old codger is still alive. Just means he's paying the bills, not me." Kai said with a shrug.

"I can almost taste the amount of love in your family."

"We're full of love. That's all there is between us. Lovelovelove." Kai said sarcastically.

"Lovelovelove? I think that's the most times I've ever heard you say that word, Kai." Rei observed, looking down at his feet. "Funny that you use it the most when you're talking about your grandfather."

Kai looked away from Rei, across the snow-covered land. "Yeah… funny…" He echoed. He could think of a billion things he would rather use that word for… one of them happened to be standing beside him. Making a snap decision, Kai began to walk faster. "Come on. At this rate we'll never reach the shed before the sun goes down."

Rei frowned, confused, "Kai! Kai, wait up!" He jogged toward the Russian. "I'm sorry, sensitive topic?" He asked, sympathetically.

"You could say that", Kai told him, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink; he hoped Rei would dismiss it as cold.

"Kai? Are you feeling ok?" Rei grabbed Kais arm to stop him and forced Kai to face him, ignoring the glare he was given, and pressed his hand to Kais forehead. "You look like you're getting sick. If you are just tell me and we can go back."

Kais glare slowly died at the concerned look in Reis eyes." I'm fine Rei. It's just cold out here, that's all." His blush was becoming darker the longer he stared into the neko-jin's eyes, and the longer Reis hand was against his face.

"Are you sure?" Rei asked, taking his hand slowly away from Kai's skin. "You feel warm."

"I'm fine, really. Maybe your hands are just cold." Kai told him.

"Hm. Maybe- but my hands don't normally get cold- even in freezing weather."

"I'd say this counts as below freezing."

Rei rolled his eyes. "Please- this is nothing. When a blizzard starts- _that's_ freezing. This is cold."

Kai quirked an eyebrow. "How do you know? You've only been to Russia once, and that was a while ago."

Rei nodded. "That's true. But I did a bit of research on Russia before we left, so I could find out what the weather would be like. And by the looks of things blizzard equals cold."

"I thought you just said that blizzards were freezing?" Kai asked, amused.

Rei flushed. "I- GAH! Whatever. What I meant was that I hope a blizzard doesn't hit because then I would be cold. Happy?" He glared playfully at Kai.

"More than you will ever know." Kai told him seriously.

Before he had time to ponder what Kai had meant Rei gave a cry of delight. The shed was less than twenty meters away. Rei ran toward it, grinning like a madman.

Kai smiled at his almost childlike happiness about an old rusted shed. He sped up so he wasn't too far behind the raven-haired teen.

As they got closer to the shed, Kai realized that 'shed' wasn't the correct word. Warehouse might be more appropriate. The thing was two stories high, didn't look all that rusty and seemed to be in good shape.

Kai found Rei standing at the door, smiling happily.

"What is it about this shed that you like?" Kai asked.

"I don't know…" Rei said, moving to open the doors. "Hey! I wonder if we'll get a better view at the top? That's incentive enough to go and check it out!" Rei grunted with effort as he tried to push the door. It didn't work. Rei pushed harder but it still had no effect.

Kai smirked and stopped the neko-jin with a hand on his shoulder. Kai reached forward and pulled the door toward himself, making a face as the snow gathered around the door made his task near impossible.

"Hmmm. Maybe we cant get in." Rei said, as he watched Kai pull on the door.

Kai stopped pulling and turned to him. "So we're going to head back and try again another day?"

Rei nodded. "Yeah. No point in freezing our butts off."

Rei looked around, sighing. "It really is pretty here." He blinked as he saw a black rabbit race across the snow. He looked again but already the animal was gone. _Weird…_

_------_

_Meanwhile, back at the orgy, I mean, snow fight (Tala's good at starting things)_

"Get off my face, monkey-boy!"

"Hell no! You might eat me!"

"You're closer to my mouth where you are now!"

Lee smirked and lay down in the snow, watching as Kevin did his impression of a gung-ho fighter by pulling Bryan's hair. The pair of vengeful All Starz had long since buried Tala. All that was left of the eccentric redhead was his feet and two tips of his hair sticking out of a snow pile.

Lee sighed as he looked around. Where had Rei and Kai gone? The neko-jin mentally shrugged. Probably went off to the shed alone.

Speaking of which, he could see two figures approaching from the distance. A squint later and he realized that the two seemed to be coming back. Within 2 minutes, they were back.

"Hey guys! Where's Tala-" And Rei landed face first in the snow having had tripped over Tala's leg, which had 'accidentally' slipped out from the snow and into Rei's path.

"Hey, Rei!" Lee said, chuckling, "You found him!" That earned him a death glare from Kai. Thankfully, Lee didn't notice, he had already turned his attention back to his lover who was busily plaiting Bryan's hair.

Rei grumbled underneath his breath as he began digging in the snow where he thought Tala's face was. After about thirty seconds of digging, Rei had found Tala.

"I think I'm turning into a snowman." Tala told him.

Rei looked closely, the Redheads lips were slightly blue.

"Tala, you should go inside. Your lips are blue, and that isn't good." Tala looked sad, then his eyes brightened up.

"Can I take Bry-Bry with me?" he asked, bouncing somewhat on the spot. Rei chuckled.

"Sure."

"YAY!" Tala squirmed out of his snow prison and bounded over to where Bryan was still fighting the green haired monkey. He taped Kevin on the shoulder.

"Yes?" Kevin asked, turning the entire upper half of his body to look at Tala.

"BAH!" Tala shouted in his face, putting on a scary face for effect.

Kevin squeaked and let go of Bryan's face in shock, falling to the ground with a soft puff of snow.

"Bry!" Tala said happily, burying his face in his love's shoulder. "You're really warm!"

Bryan looked at his lover, noticing that he had gotten paler, if that was possible, and the color of his lips. He looked over to Rei.

"I'm taking him inside." Rei nodded.

"I told him to go inside. He wanted you to go too."

Tala ignored them both and snuggled into Bryan's chest. "So warm." He said to himself.

Bryan rolled his eyes. "Come on, you." He told Tala, taking a step toward the house with some difficulty. "There's a warm fire with your name on it inside."

"Really?" Tala asked. He stepped away from Bryan and grabbed his hand. "Come on then!"

Rei laughed as Tala dragged Bryan away, the lavender haired Russian complaining that he could walk on his own, and that Tala therefore didn't need to drag him. He looked to the others, who were still fighting. Now, however, Michael had been ganged up on, and was currently being buried by the other boys.

"Will you guys stop trying to give each other frostbite?" Rei asked. He flopped down beside Lee who was still watching the other boy's antics with amusement.

"I don't think that's going to happen any time soon." Lee told him, smirking as Kevin stepped into a deep snow patch and sunk to waist level.

"What is it with them and burying things?" Rei asked, wriggling around in the snow until he had a nice Rei-shaped indent to lie down in.

"Dogs in a past life frustrated with the restraints of human society?"

Rei snorted. "Probably."

Both neko-jin watched amused as Michael slowly disappeared. Then their attention was drawn to the monkey, who was calling out for help, as he was unable to pull himself out of the waist high snow patch.

"Excuse me- I have to go and be a snow lifesaver." Lee told Rei, getting up and wandering over to Kevin. "Need a hand?"

Kevin glared up at his lover. "You could say that- pull me up!"

Lee smirked and leaned down to pick up the small neko-jin. Kevin squealed as he was lifted out of the snow. "COLD!" he wrapped his arms and legs around Lee's neck and waist. "That snow is really c-cold."

Lee's smirk grew. "I can see that."

Kevin let out a whine and clung even more tightly to Lee. "Can we go inside? It's really cold out here. And I'm sleepy." Kevin's sentence ended in a yawn as he snuggled in to his lover. Lee smiled down at him and turned to Rei.

"Looks like we're bailing too. See you guys later."

Rei waved lazily and stretched out in the snow. His hand came into contact with something warm. Rei looked up in shock only to relax when he saw that it was Kai's leg. "You scared the living Bejesus out of me!" He told the Russian, irritated that he was so on edge.

"Didn't mean to", Kai said simply, sitting down beside the neko-jin and watching as Michael was buried until nothing but his cap showed.

Eddy crowed triumphantly. He then proceeded to walk over to the two other boys and sit down next to Rei, who had sunk into the snow a little more.

"Hey there. Did you find the shed?" As he spoke he started moving snow from where it had been laying and onto the neko-jin, who was starting to doze.

"Yeah, but we couldn't get in. Going to try again another day." Rei said.

By this time, the snowdrift known as Michael had broken open, and a freezing American had wandered over to the other boys.

"I hate you Eddy." Michael growled as he flopped on to the snow, beside the other boy.

Eddy cackled. "You know you love me deep down, Mikey."

"No. I really don't." Michael blinked before realizing what Eddy had said. "You're kidding me! You too? Am I the only straight person in this entire house?" He asked plaintively.

"What about Mati and Miguel?" Eddy asked, continuing to pile snow on to Rei in small lots so the neko-jin wouldn't notice.

"But they're together so don't count!"

"Well, you know that old saying. 'If you can't beat 'em-"

"No chance in hell."

"C'mon, buddy! You'll have more fun while your here."

"Dude, no. Wait, Kai? Aren't you straight?"

Kai snorted. "Yeah, I'm straight." Rei felt his heart sink. "Straight as a twistie, that is." The light that had dimmed in Rei's eyes suddenly grew bright again.

Michael sighed and threw his hand over his eyes in mock horror. "It figures that I'd rock at a sport where the best are mostly gay guys and all the girls are either taken or plain scary."

"Emily's not that scary." Eddy interjected.

"I was talking about the pink one. And me and Emily? No. I don't even want to think about that. It'd be weird."

"She likes you, you know." Eddy said offhandedly.

"What? Really?" A light blush settled across Michael's nose.

Eddy grinned as he noticed that Reis legs were completely covered. Now for the belly. "Yeah. Haven't you noticed the way she stares at you?"

"No she doesn't." Michael scoffed. "Stop lying- it's not good for you."

"I'm not lying, man. I'm her gay best friend. She tells me all this stuff that I _really_ don't want to know. But aside from that- she likes you." Eddy scooped up a handful of snow and began sprinkling it on Rei's stomach.

The neko-jin didn't notice any of this. He was concentrating on the euphoric feeling that had begun in his toes and was slowly making its way through his entire body. Kai wasn't straight!

Kai, meanwhile, was noticing how much of Rei was covered in snow. He was also noticing that the usually alert neko-jin seemed to be dozing off.

Michael, now blushing furiously, had busied himself with making the snow on Reis legs into the shape of a tail as Eddy added more snow to Reis upper body.

"If you turn any brighter red you'll be put to work as a stop sign." Eddy said, smirking at Michael before turning his attention to piling snow on Rei's upper chest.

Michael growled under his breath and tried to stop himself doing an impression of a tomato. This only made him turn a brighter shade of red. Once he had finished making Rei's 'tail' he dived head first into a pile of snow to try and cool his burning face.

"Michael, stop trying to swim in the snow. What is it with you Americans and swimming in snow? First Max, now you." Kai said.

Michael lifted his head from the snow and stared at Kai. "You said a full sentence? Shocking."

Both boys then saw what Eddy was doing to Rei and grinned.

Eddy had piled snow on to Rei's chest, giving the neko-jin a set of boobs.

"Gorgeous, yes?" The American asked, cackling. "I call it naked-mermaid-girl-man"

Kai rolled his eyes. "Imaginative title."

"I try."

"Too hard."

"Shut up, Michael, who asked you?"

Rei opened his eyes (which he didn't remember closing) and looked at the others, confused as to what they were talking about. It was then that he noticed the twin peaks of snow rising from his chest, and the strange feeling of cold covering his body.

His response was immediate.

"ARGH!" He sat bolt upright. "What the hell?"

He didn't get an answer because both the American boys were too busy pissing themselves laughing, rolling around on the ground. Even Kai was grinning at Rei's expression.

"What the-huh?" Rei asked, calming down and still trying to figure out what was going on.

"Dude! You didn't even realize Eddy was putting snow on you! He's been stacking it up for a while now!" Michael said, rolling in the snow.

Rei looked down to hide his face, noticing the tail of snow. That explained the 'mermaid' part.

Rei kicked his legs, escaping from his snowy prison. He drew his legs up to his body and glared at Eddy. "You're evil."

"I'm not only that. I'm also awesome."

"Yeah, whatever you reckon."

"So you agree ReiRei?" Eddy asked, arching an eyebrow.

"No. And what's with everyone calling me ReiRei?"

Eddy opened his mouth, then, after a moments thought, closed it again. "I'm not sure. I'm just saying it cause Tala said it. I think he's saying it to piss off Mariah."

Rei sighed. "Sounds like something he'd do."

Eddy grinned. "Come on. I'm getting cold- let's go inside."

Rei nodded and stood up, brushing his clothes free of any excess snow. "Sounds like a plan."

The quartet began to trek back towards the manor, Rei Eddy and Michael talking to each other about nothing in particular and Kai being as silent as ever.

When the got within sight of the door Rei squinted and held out a hand to stop the others. They obliged, looking at the neko-jin questioningly. Rei smirked as he watched the two people beside the steps leading up to the door. "Guess they found an alternative way of warming up."

Lee had Kevin pushed against the large stone banister of the stairs and the two were furiously kissing, in proper desperate style. Michael immediately passed the pair and went inside. The others, however, found they couldn't look away from the pair who seemed to be having so much fun. Then they heard the sound of running feet and Tala came dashing out the door and, after slipping a little on the stairs, he stood with his hands clasped in front of his chest with happy eyes. At the others questioning looks, he said, "My make out senses were tingling."

They heard a snort and turned to Bryan, who had walked out too. "Yeah. If your make out senses are called Michael."

"Who's saying that they aren't?" Tala asked, leaning on the banister and watching the two neko-jin unashamedly.

"Tala, you are such a pervert." Kai told him, walking up the steps and grabbing the redhead's ear hard. Kai began to march back inside the building, dragging Tala by the top of his ear.

"OWIEOWIEOWIE!" Tala cried, stumbling after Kai.

Rei sighed and pulled on Eddy's arm. "Come on. I doubt they'd let you join in."

"Are you sure?" Eddy asked dazedly, allowing himself to be led by the ebony-haired teen.

"Yes Eddy. I'm very sure. Now leave my friends alone, and put your eyes back in your head. They don't need you ogling them."

"Yes mother."

"AHHHH!" Eddy took off down the hall, Rei hot on his heels. The two passed Kai, Tala and Bryan, much to their amusement, and Eddy quickly hid in a room. Rei growled and stormed into another room. For several minutes there was silence. Then, from the room Rei was in they heard a yell.

"Hey! They have Mahjongg!"

Tala ran into the room Rei had disappeared into. "Really?" He asked eyes wide as saucers. "I've always wanted to know how to play that game!"

"Do you want me to teach you?"

Tala bounced in happiness. "Really? Would you?"

"Of course- I need someone to verse- might as well be you." Rei flashed Bryan and Kai a grin as the entered the room. "Do either of you want to play?"

They both shook their heads and sat down on separate couches facing each other. Between their seating choice was a large coffee table.

Tala sat down in Bryan's lap, still bouncing with happiness, not even seeming to care about the almost bruising grip his boyfriend had on his hips as he tried to stop the bouncing. It wasn't giving Bryan any nice, clean thoughts.

Rei walked over with an old looking wooden box, Chinese writing on each of the sides and on the edges of the top. He sat down beside Kai.

"Rei! You should sit in Kais lap! I'm sitting in Bry-Bry's!" Rei raised an eyebrow at the whining Russian.

"Yes. But he's your boyfriend, Tala."

"So? If Kai was your boyfriend then it wouldn't be a problem."

Rei blushed. "Yes, but he's not."

Tala squeaked as Bryan dug his fingers into his sides. "Quit it." Bryan whispered in Tala's ear so only the redhead could hear him. "Look at Kai's face. You're not helping matters."

Tala glanced across at the bluenette. His face portrayed not emotion but that was sign enough. Kai only completely closed off when he had something to hide. "So how do you play this anyway?" Tala asked, changing the subject away from more delicate matters.

Rei quickly explained the rules of the game. After the explanation, even Kai's shields were down as all three Russians faces shone with confusion. Rei sighed.

"Why don't we just play and as we go I'll show you what to do, ok?" All three nodded dumbly, even though Tala was supposed to be the only one getting a lesson.

Rei picked up two pieces, both with trees depicting different seasons on them, and set them to one side. Tala picked up a piece and started chewing on it.

"Tala! What are you-"

"Checking to see if they're real ivory."

"That's gross and, anyway, you do that for gold." Rei told him, grinning despite himself.

Tala thought about that for a second but continued chewing on the piece. "It tastes good."

Rei rolled his eyes before looking at Bryan. "Help?" He asked.

Bryan sighed and held his hand out in front of his lover. "Ta." He said, like he was talking to a two year old.

Tala sheepishly took the piece out of his mouth and placed it on Bryan's hand.

Bryan nodded in satisfaction and wiped the piece on a non-belted part of Tala's clothes and placed it back on the table.

The game continued. Five minutes later, however, found Tala building a fort out of the pieces and Rei shaking his head.

"Tal, you have the attention span of a five year old."

Tala ignored him and began launching pieces from behind his fortress, making bomb-landing sounds. "Nyow Ptch! Ptch!"

Rei laughed at his antics. "You're insane- you know that?"

In answer Tala threw a tile a Rei's head. It would have hit him had Kai not stretched out his hand to catch the offending piece. "You know, it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye."

Tala threw one at him too.

"Tala stop it. These are old and I don't want them broken." Rei said as laughed, gently tilting to one side.

Tala nodded and slowly lowered the walls of his fortress. But every now and then he'd throw another piece, with added bomb noises. Rei simply laughed harder, tilting even more to one side until one of Tala's 'bombs' caught him in the head and, in his confusion, he tipped over completely, landing in Kais lap.

Kai's eyes widened, a small pink tinge tainting his cheeks. _Rei's in my lap! No nasty thoughts… no nasty thoughts…_

Rei pushed himself up. "Oh my God, I'm sorry." He said, turning bright red. I his haste to remove himself from Kai's lap he ended up slipping straight back into it.

Tala smirked. _That's one way to get them close to each other._ He thought, satisfied, silently blessing the Mahjongg pieces.

Rei pulled himself up, slowly this time so he didn't fall again, even if he had he wouldn't have really minded, and looked at his lap, his face almost glowing. Kai himself was trying hard not to think of what it had been like to have Rei in his lap. Tried not to think about how warm he had been. _Think unsexy thoughts. Think unsexy thoughts._

Their moment was interrupted Tala's stomach growling at them. The redhead looked down at his belly in surprise. "Did I just make that sound?"

Rei grinned. "Yes, you did. Come to the kitchen and I'll start making everyone lunch, ok?"

Tala nodded and stood up. "Hey… won't Ollie be in there?"

"I doubt it, he'll probably be daydreaming about Enri." Bryan told then standing up and stretching.

"Enri?" Rei asked, blinking, confused.

Tala draped his arm around Rei's neck. "Ah… ReiRei You are so unobservant sometimes…"

The four teens got up and left, Rei scowling as Tala laughed and the other two smirked. They were happy. But they were unaware of the events that were going to come. So unaware. So...unready.

The fire hid in the fireplace, contented. The perfect targets for its wrath.

* * *

Please tell us what you think! 


	7. Chapter 7

**PandaPjays: **Heya again! Sorry for this update being so late

**Animeobsession: **we have a reason /nods furiously/...what's the reason again?

**PandaPjays: **um... lives?

**Animeobsession: **Hmmm. Yes that might be it. School too.

**PandaPjays: **I have exams at the moment- does that count as a good reason?

**Animeobsession: **Yes, yes it does.I just _had_ exams.

**PandaPjays: **cheers for that thought then- see? We are the masters of the excuse

**Animeobsession: **/nods/ it's all the bush pandas fault.

**PandaPjays: **/nods and smiles/

**Animeobsession: **mmmm grape lip-gloss. Ok, odd moment over.

**PandaPjays: **Over? Already? Damn I was hoping for more oddness... ah well... back on topic

**Animeobsession: **The odd moment is never over. TOPIC!

**PandaPjays: **yes! To make up for the lack of chapter we wrote you a huge one! So huge it had to get chopped into three

**Animeobsession: **Oh yeah! HELL YEAH! It was HUGE.

**PandaPjays: **and since we didn't want you all to get num bums we had to massacre it

**Animeobsession: **We know that looking at a FRICKEN HUGE chapter can be daunting.

**PandaPjays: **/cough/ 40 pages /cough/

**Animeobsession: **So, it was chopped into bits. / Hacks at paper with butcher knife /

**PandaPjays: **/looks at paper sadly/ may you rest in pieces

**Animeobsession: **We'll do a Shwa-filled service for it later.

**PandaPjays: **you'll find out all about this magical 'Shwa' business when you read the chapter

**Animeobsession: **/ is seen praying in background /

**Animeobsession: **I want to put a chapter up on my birthday!

**PandaPjays: **okey dokey then. So that means that the next installment is up on 30 November- watch out for it

**Animeobsession: **YAY! 9 days! And just to let everyone know, the REAL horror will start... in 9 days...

**PandaPjays: **so we happy with this? Good. Oh! Btw we do not own the two songs in this chappie at all. They are Saviour and Open Wounds by Skillet. They are both awesomely awesome and really good to listen to while reading this

**Animeobsession: **nods I have quite a few of their songs in my writing play list.

Ok, reviews?

**PandaPjays: **/nods/ reviews you first or me?

**Animeobsession: **you first

**PandaPjays: **_The Al Bhed known as Amaria-_ There's two of us honeybunch- it's not all the work of the brilliantness of me. (And the modestness of me) I'm glad that you think it's funny- originally this fic was meant to be pure horror but then it became funny. Queer, yes?

**Animeobsession: **_cute-little-Yugi-_The fire is the bad guy. But, all will be revealed... and Rei in Kais lap was pure genius. We all love the image.

**PandaPjays: **_Zoranie-_ more sweet KaiRei moments coming your way

**Animeobsession: **_Snow White Suicide-_ More KaiRei moments to come. Many many more.

**PandaPjays:**_I-Ain't-No-F'in-Angel_- OoO! COOKIE/takes and shares/

**Animeobsession: **_jayhay-_Hello! This time its me replying. The snow scenes are some of the best; at least that's what I think. Kai and Rei are naive. Very naive. Don't worry; they'll get together soon. The shed will have a part later on, but I'm saying nothing.

**PandaPjays: **_kaieshakai-_ Tala is insane. Glad that you like him like that- I know we do.

**Animeobsession: **_Black Night Tigress_-Here you are! One more hilarious chapter!

**PandaPjays: **_suagr hype queen_ - I know that feeling- I hate it when you want to type and then it's just blah

**Animeobsession: **_DaaKu Hisaki_ - I _can_ believe we cut it off like that. But, I'm sure we've made up for it in this chapter.

**PandaPjays: **_Elle-Fatex- _/nods and smiles/ it's our goal to keep you all guessing

**Animeobsession: **_Kristen Hiwatari-_ mmm Kai and Rei-ness is gooooooooooooooood.

**PandaPjays: **_Shin Rigel-_ The fire is only _starting_ to freak you out? It's been freaking me out since the first chappie

**Animeobsession: **_tntiggris-_We can't wait any longer either.

**PandaPjays: **_arianna2344-_ We're working on the plot development- we start chapters with a goal in mind... then kind of wander off the subject- take Dizzy the porn dragon as an example

**Animeobsession: **_arianna2344_- Humor is good. Plot developing bad. As Panda-chan said, we tend to wonder off topic very, _very_ easily. And I'm not sure if we took it from Angel and Spike. Ask Panda about that.

**PandaPjays: **… yeah, you got me. I watched that episode the day we were writing that and it got chucked in there

**Animeobsession: **black lady knight-There's none there, sorry. But more is coming up.

**PandaPjays: **_Lady-Nikki_- Next chapter is here. Glad you like the story so far

**Animeobsession: **_dark-angel-rosalia-_ as a twisty. We like to make people laugh. It makes us happy. And don't worry, Kai and Rei will be together soon.

**PandaPjays: **_whitespirit04-_ Yeh, funnily enough Robbie-baby is German. You watch Bdaman too? I started to then realized how early it was on a weekend so gave up- but it was good while it lasted

**Animeobsession: **_the kaichou of the world-_ w00! Computers are cool! At my school anyway, we just do...nothing... well, sometimes we do nothing. And OllixEnri is gooooooood.

**PandaPjays: **_Echo in the Dark_- This fic gave you IDEAS/backs away slowly, then hides/

**Animeobsession: **_BloodyShadows_ - School sucks! Down with school!

**PandaPjays: **_Faina -_ I don't want to know about your experiences of flying mahjongg pieces- I'm scared just thinking about them

**Animeobsession: **_Peggy-chan the anime fan -_ Its ok that you didn't review every chapter, because you've reviewed this one!

**PandaPjays: **_Saku-san_- lol that was an ego stroke. I'd love to read your story- but I checked and it wasn't there... but then again that was a while ago- I'll check again soon after I've finished posting this chappie

**Animeobsession: **_KawaiiYoukai9517 -_ We love that you love it!

**PandaPjays**_Lainy_ - lol glad you liked it

**PandaPjays: **_Aidan McCarthy-_ Heya little dude. Hope you like this chappie as much as you liked the others

**Animeobsession: **_River Rae_ - The fires plan has been set in motion. It's been in motion since before ReiRei was born. Yeah, it's _that_ evil.

**Animeobsession: **_lunartigergurl _- lol, yes you did ask nicely. And so, we have updated.

**PandaPjays: **ok, that's it! Now on with the chapter!

**Animeobsession: **Enjoy!

* * *

"Reeeei! I'm hungry!" Tala whined as the quartet trouped into the kitchen. 

"That would be why we're here. What do you want?" Rei asked him.

"Food!"

Rei rolled his eyes. "You sound like Tyson."

"I resent that!"

Rei sighed and fwapped Tala with a handy spatula.

FWAP!

"Owwie! ReiRei!

Rei grinned and did it again. "Heh heh you even sound like Tyson when I do that to him!"

Tala glared at the neko-jin before going to look in the cupboards. "AHH! I'm so hungry!"

"Didn't you have any breakfast?"

"I was too busy looking at Dizzy's porn."

"Why does that not surprise me?"

Rei walked over to another cupboard and looked around for a bit. He leaned out to ask Tala what he'd found, but the redhead was nowhere to be seen. He looked to Bryan and Kai in confusion.

Bryan sighed, pointing to the cupboard Tala had been looking in. Rei walked over and laughed at what he saw.

Tala had gotten _into_ the cupboard, somehow, and was happily munching away on some cereal he had found.

"Tala you look like a rat!" Rei told him.

Tala stopped what he was doing to glare at Rei. "I hope rat is a codeword for someone amazingly hot who you just want to ravish where they stand, for your sake."

Rei blinked. "Err…"

Tala nodded in satisfaction. "I thought as much- face it. You all wish you could have me."

Rei gave him an incredulous look. "What? What? Tala, you're weird."

Tala shrugged and started throwing little bits of cereal at Rei. "I've had worse. Now, stop trying to woo me and go do something. Like cook. Or hit on Kai."

"What? I-" Rei blushed and turned around to look at Kai but couldn't find him. "Hey- where'd he go?"

Kai wandered into the room he and Rei had shared the night before. When he had seen Tala crawl into the cupboard he had decided that it was time for him to make good his escape.

"Kai?" A blonde head poked around the edge of his doorframe.

"Oh. Hey Enri." Kai said smiling at the Italian. Before this insane adventure had started Kai had been keeping in contact with Enrique via email. He had gotten to know the Italian quite well over the past few years.

"Hey. Um, I was wondering. Could I... could I talk to you? About something...really important." Enrique blushed heavily. Kai raised an eyebrow.

"Sure. What's wrong?"

When Enri didn't answer, Kai sat down on one of the beds and patted the spot beside him. "Sit and tell." He ordered.

Enri meekly did as he was told. "It's hard to tell you." He blushed and continued. "What do you think of… Ollie?"

Kai's eyes widened. "Ollie? Why?"

"I um…" Enrique looked away from the Russian turning an even deeper shade of red.

Kai raised an eyebrow at the strange behavior of his Italian friend.

"Yes?"

"I...I think I'm...I think I've..." He took a deep breath. "I think I've fallen in love with... with Ollie."

Kai blinked, absorbing that new information. "I… see…" He said without thinking.

Enrique's eyes widened. "I… sorry… I shouldn't have said anything… I should go." He stood up from the bed and took a step away.

Kai mentally kicked himself _Way to go, Hiwatari._ He berated himself. "No! I was just… shocked- that's all. Sit down."

Enri grinned. "I'd never have thought that the great Kai would get shocked."

"It doesn't happen often. Savor the moment."

"I will." Enrique grin disappeared, and a frightened look appeared on his face. "What do you think I should do, Kai? I'm lost here."

Kai let out a chuckle. "For a player such as yourself, this should be no problem, Enri. You've told girls, and boys I think, that you've loved them before now. Why is this time any different?"

"Because this time it's the truth."

Kai frowned. "You shouldn't lie to people. _Especially_ when feelings are involved."

Enrique sighed and lay back on the bed. "You don't think I know that? Why do you think I've been conspicuously single for the past year- I'm sick of lying to people."

"Then don't. Tell Ollie the truth."

"It's not that simple! What if he rejects me?" Enrique shut his eyes and groaned at that thought. "I don't even want to think of that possibility. And anyway, I think Ollie's straight as a twig."

Kai smiled. "Many twigs are bent, " he grinned pervertedly, "some are kinky too." Enrique blushed.

"Kai!"

Kai tried to look innocent. "What? I'm just saying some twigs have kinks in them."

"No you said some are kinky! Completely different meaning there!"

Kai smirked and lay back on the bed with his blonde friend. "I suppose you could say that- but I'm pretty sure Ollie's twig is on the bendy side of life."

"Yeah right, how much have you seen Ollie in the past year? He's had a string of girlfriends."

"So have you." Kai reminded Enrique gently. "Maybe the reason he's had so many is that he's still looking."

"For a _girl_."

"Or maybe he's realised that he doesn't want a girlfriend. No guy can look as cute as he does without having a following of girls"

Enrique glanced suspiciously at Kai. "What do you mean by that?"

"Exactly what I said. Ollie's cute. So are puppies. I'm not going to try to take him out from under your nose. Seriously, I think you should tell him."

"Bu-but what if he rejects me? What if he never wants to see me again?" Enrique started to panic.

"He wont reject you. The worst that can happen is that you two have a brief fling instead of a long, happy, satisfying relationship. Now go find Ollie and tell him you love him." Kai said, pushing Enrique.

The Italian fell off the bed. "Ow…" He muttered. "Never get a job as a relationship counselor." He told Kai, rubbing his head. "You wouldn't be good at it."

"Oh I know _that_. I just like to try every now and again. Go tell him." Kai sat up and pointed to the door. "I want a nap. Go."

"Aww. Does Kai need his afternoon kip?" Kai raised an eyebrow.

"Isn't kip English?"

Enrique shrugged. "Meh."

"Anyway, Kai doesn't _need_ a nap. He _wants_ one. Go."

"Since when did you start speaking about yourself in the third person?"

"You're stalling. _Go._"

"Yes mother." He waved to the Russian as he exited the room. "Have a good nap nap now."

Kai growled as the Italian boy closed the door. He ran a hand through his hair and lay back against the pillows, closing his eyes.

His thoughts went back to earlier that day. To finding the shed. Rei gaining breasts. The mahjongg... Kai blushed as he thought about the mahjongg.

Eventually Kai's breathing evened out and he slipped into a light doze, his chest rising and falling slowly with each breath he took.

It was this sight that greeted Rei as he slipped into the room, searching for the book he was reading. He had left Tala and Bryan in the kitchen with a packet of choc chip biscuits. Last time he had looked at them, Tala was busy trying to feed one to Bryan, holding the biscuit in his mouth.

Having located his book, Rei smiled softly, looking at Kai. The Russian looked so peaceful when he was asleep. So unlike how he was usually. Not wanting to disturb Kai, Rei walked quietly out of the room and shut the door, pausing only once to look at Kai's sleeping form again.

_------ _

Enrique walked down the hall, trying very hard to ignore Miguel and Mati, who had found a nice, unoccupied lounge in the hall and were currently showing the world that, yes, they were together.

He smiled at the two teens as he passed.

They both completely ignored him, too wrapped up in each other to take any notice of the world around them.

Enrique rolled his eyes and continued on his way. He wasn't quite sure where he was going. Half of him wanted to go and see Oliver but the other half wanted to avoid him so he wouldn't have to tell the Frenchman about his feelings.

"Enri!"

Seemed avoidance was out of the question.

Enrique turned, a strained smile on his face as Oliver ran up to him. Oliver smiled back, though he seemed worried. "Are you ok Enri? You don't look...happy?"

"Ah… Just… Hungry!" He said in a fit of inspiration. "I got lost and can't find where the kitchen is!" _Enrique- master of the excuse_ He thought smugly.

"Oh! I can show you!" Oliver smiled happily and began to lead the way toward the kitchen. "Can I make you anything?" He asked over his shoulder.

_A cupcake of courage would be nice_ Enri thought grimly as he followed Ollie. He couldn't figure out any way to say what he needed to say to the green haired boy.

"Um, we'll just see what's there." Oliver smiled and opened the door and the two teens walked in, only to stop in their tracks as they noticed something quite...there wasn't a word to describe it.

Bryan had Tala pushed down on the big island in the middle of the kitchen, both kissing passionately, shirtless and surrounded by cereal. The young Majestics fled the room as soon as pants started lowering.

"My poor young eyes!" Ollie said, leaning against a wall. "I have to _prepare food_ on that bench."

Enrique nodded. "This entire house is like orgy-ville. First Miguel and Mati, now them. Who next?"

A loud call of, "ROBERT!" Echoed through the halls.

"You had to ask, didn't you?" Oliver said, smirking at the blonde.

Enrique sighed and slid down the wall he was leaning against until he sat on the ground. He didn't want to admit even to himself how much the raging hormones flying around the house made him want to pin Oliver to the wall and… _I'm not thinking about this. _He told himself firmly.

"Enri? Are you ok? Or is the hunger really hurting you that much." Oliver said, sliding down the wall next to his blonde friend.

Enrique smiled weakly. "Just thinking. Is all. The hunger isn't that bad."

"What are you thinking about?"

_You._ "Poor ReiRei. Everyone is vandalizing his house. I'm sure he didn't know that it was going to end up being one big orgy when he invited us all."

"Are you kidding me? He invited Romeo and Julio back there knowingly. He knew what it would turn out like, alright." Oliver winced as he heard a particularly loud moan from inside the room. "I just wish they'd do it _quietly_."

Enrique grinned. "Apart from their obvious need to learn how to pick a time and place. Don't you think they're great?"

Oliver looked at Enrique, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

The blonde flushed. "I mean that- how many years have they been an item? And yet they _still_ can't seem to keep their hands off each other." His point was punctuated by another low moan from Tala. "At all."

Oliver grinned. "Very true. Their love, as odd as it seems especially with those two, is very true. Must be because they've always been close. They were always protecting each other in the Abbey."

Enrique turned to Oliver, eyes wide. "How do you know that?"

"I've been keeping in touch with Bryan."

Enrique nodded, smiling thinking about his similar contact with Kai. "It's amazing how much they've opened up since back in those days isn't it? Do you remember how we always used to hide from them when we were in the dressing rooms at the world tournaments?"

Oliver grinned. "Yeah! And remember that time when we caught them making out next to the Coke machine?"

"I thought we were going to die from the death glares they sent our way."

The two teens laughed, then stopped when a particularly loud moan, followed by a cry of "Bryan!" floated out the door.

"Maybe this isn't the best place to discuss the past. I fear those two are going to think we're eavesdropping."

"Ollie, you can't eavesdrop with Tala being as loud as he is."

Oliver nodded. "Very true. But, hasn't he been topped by Johnny?"

"I thought he's being topped by Bryan?"

"Not that kind of topped!"

Enrique grinned wickedly. "Just wanted to see your reaction." He stood up and offered his hand to help up the green haired boy. "However, I wouldn't like to see their faces if we're outside when they…um… finish…"

"Another death glare?"

"I was thinking more axe-murdering clown expressions."

"Ah. Right. Don't want to see that." Oliver took the offered hand and stood up.

He smiled at Enrique. "So, where to, my pizza loving friend?"

_Try French loving._ I don't know. Want to see if we can find Johnny and Robert?"

"YES!"

"...Maybe not."

Oliver winced as he heard a loud bang come from the room where their teammates seemed to be enjoying 'quality time' with each other. "Sounds rather… rough…"

"I don't fancy going in there, do you Ollie?"

"No, no I don't."

"Something else then?"

"Ok… what?"

"We might as well walk around for a bit, you know, try to find where some of the others are. They might be doing something interesting."

"Ok."

They walked around the mansion for several minutes, finding a few people, but they weren't doing much. Then they heard music. Loud music. Good music. They ran to the room and opened the door.

They stared in shock at the scene before them.

_What you got_  
_What you want  
__What you need  
__Can I be your Saviour_

Lee and Rei were jumping around the room singing along at the tops of their voices.

_Everything's gonna crash and break_

Enrique did a quick scan of the room to see Kevin watching his boyfriend raptly with a discarded book beside him. _What the hell? _

_But I know, yeah I know  
__What you got  
__What you want  
__What you need  
__Can I be your Saviour? _

Kevin, who had drawn his attention away from his lover for only a few seconds, noticed the two stunned looking European boys and waved them over. They walked over and sat next to him on the floor, while he sat on a chair.

_It's time to redefine  
__Your de-euphoric mind _

Lee laughed manically. "Your head bang will never beat mine. For I am King!"

"King of losers maybe!" Rei panted- his head was beginning to ache. Nevertheless, he reached up to release his hair from its wrap and continued to head bang, his head becoming obscured in his mane of hair.

Lee also undid his hair and, though his hair was not as long as Reis, he too became obscured in it.

Oliver poked Kevin. "Kevin? Little one? You're drooling."

Kevin shook his head, coming out of his trance and glared at Oliver. "You have to admit that that's an awe-inspiring sight." He said, gesturing toward Lee and Rei's antics.

_Don't hesitate, No escape  
__From the secrets on the inside _

"Awe inspiring?" Enrique asked, raising an eyebrow at the two neko-jin.

"Yes, Awe inspiring. Just remember that both of them are meant to have their favourite hobby as meditating or similar- at least that's what a lot of people seem to think."

"What about you?"

"Mine? It _was_ staring at Lee, but I don't think that counts. I like drawing though. I've always been really good. Which reminds me, I have to go get my art book. Don't let them stop!"

Kevin ran out of the room at breakneck speed, causing Enrique to turn his head so fast he nearly got whiplash.

_There's nothing left to lose  
__There's nothing left to prove  
__Surrender your love  
__It's all you can do _

"I love this song!" Lee called out while still throwing his head around like a crazy person.

"Agreed! What's it called?" Rei gasped- trying to keep up with his friend- he was feeling light-headed.

"Saviour by Skillet! They're awesomely awesome aren't they?"

"HELL YEAH!"

Oliver blinked. "Um, where's the music coming from?"

Enrique looked around, and eventually pointed to a large CD player. Oliver raised an eyebrow.

"This house is heaps old. Why the hell is there something so modern in here?"

Enrique shrugged. "Rei's uncle was being one of those 'hip' old people?"

"Like Tyson's Gramps?"

"Except that he can pull it off." Enri countered.

"Well maybe Rei's uncle could too."

"I doubt it." Rei said, coming to sit down and holding his head, a fierce headache brewing. "By all accounts he was a recluse. No, I stole this player from… Michael I think… Anyway, it was there for the taking so I took it. Thank God for batteries, yes?"

Both smiled and nodded as Lee stumbled over to them and collapsed on the floor.

"Ahhhh, my head."

_I am the eyes inside, staring back at you.  
__I am the eyes inside staring back at YOU! _

Kevin ran back into the room and, seeing the two fallen neko-jin, let out a whine.

"Guys! I was going to draw you!"

"Sorry, Kev. My headache took precedence." Lee smiled apologetically. "Besides, wouldn't it be hard to draw us? We were moving like crazy."

"Moving crazily, more like." He said with a grin, diving down on to the floor to snuggle up to his lover.

Lee smiled and buried his nose in Kevin's hair. "You better have meant that in the nicest possible way."

"I did." Kevin raised his head and kissed Lee gently, sliding a hand around the back of the lion's neck, Lee's own arms wrapping around the younger neko-jin's waist.

"Guys, no making out. If you're going to make out, then go to another room, you're the only couple here."

"Not any more!" Tala burst through the door, tripped on the rug and fell flat on his face (face plant!). Enrique's eyes widened.

"Oh crap! They followed us!"

Tala looked up at the blonde. "Huh?"

"Oh… um…" Enrique looked away blushing.

Oliver had no such qualms. "I just hope to God that you wiped the benches when you were finished."

_What you got_  
_What you need  
__Everything's gonna crash and break _

Tala grinned evilly. " Does licking count?" Oliver's face screwed up in horror and everyone in the room turned red.

Bryan walked through and, after hearing what was playing, started head banging.

_What you got  
__What you want  
__What you need  
__Can I be your Saviour? _

Tala smirked. "Whose CD?" He asked, gesturing to the Player still merrily playing its tune.

"Um… Lee's I think…" Rei told him hugging a pillow tightly- trying to get the mental picture Tala had just given him out of his head. He looked to Lee for confirmation and received a nod in answer. "Why?"

"I never would have picked Lee as a Skillet person."

"Same." Bryan said, but it came out odd, as Bryan was still head banging.

Lee scratched at his head, smiling as he realized that his headache was fading. "I would never picked myself to be a Skillet person either. But I found one of the songs on the net and became hooked."

"Righteo." Tala stood up and grinned as he watch Bryan head banging. "Having fun there, Sparky?"

Bryan stopped his actions and stared at Tala, confused. "Sparky?"

Tala shrugged. "Seemed like the right thing to say at the time."

Bryan gave his boyfriend an odd look and poked at him with his foot.

Suddenly, Tala jumped off the floor and with an 'I've got an idea!' he ran out of the room, much to the bemusement of the others.

"What in all hell?" Kevin said, cocking his head to the side, though whether it was out of confusion, or just so Lee could attack his neck more easily, the others didn't know.

Bryan shrugged. "With Tala you can never tell." He said wisely before beginning to head bang to the music again. "ReiRei! Join in!" He called.

Rei groaned and stood up. His headache had only just disappeared. _Ah well_, he thought as he joined the lavender haired boy in jumping around the room once more. _That's why God invented Panadol_

_What you got  
__What you want  
__What you need  
__Can I be your Saviour?  
__Everything's gonna crash and break  
__Your Saviour _

They heard the sound of running feet, lots of running feet, and Tala was once again in the room, now joined by Michael, Eddy, Matilda, Miguel, Claude and Spencer. He then proceeded to run into the middle of the room, grabbing Rei as he went, and started jumping with the no-longer head banging Rei, shouting "Moshpit! Moshpit! Moshpit!"

Rei stared, bewildered at the sudden crowd of people. "Wha?" He began before being swept up in the mood of the people there and beginning to jump around again.

"C'mon Enri! Lets join in!" Oliver yelled over the music, which had been turned up quite loud. He grabbed the stunned Italians hand and dragged him into the group, quickly starting to mosh.

Enrique moshed too, and tried not to think of the French lad pressed up against him, thanks to everyone else.

_So much for confessing my undying love for him_, he thought ironically as the song came to an end.

A new song began. This one less high amped guitar with loud drums and more mellow.

_In the dark with the music on  
__Wishing I were somewhere else  
__Taking all your anger out on me  
__Somebody help me_

"WOOT!"

"Tala! Stop rubbing yourself over me!"

"That's not me! I'm rubbing myself all over Bryan!"

Grin. "Yes, yes he is."

"Then, who...?"

_I would rather rot alone  
Then spend a minute with you  
I'm gone, I'm gone _

And you can't stop me from falling apart  
'Cause my self-destruction is all your fault

Rei grinned as he saw a very familiar, very sleep rumpled figure appear at the door.

Kai rubbed his eyes as he stared at the mass of bodies in the room. _Do I really want to know? _He wondered.

He walked forward a little more, then he felt someone grab his arm and he was pulled deep into the sea of bodies.

He felt someone rubbing against him. And he liked it. So he grinded back.

He turned around to find...

"Rei?"

The neko-jin blushed a deep red but didn't stop his movements.

_How could you, how could you, how could you hate me?  
When all I ever wanted to be was you?  
How could you, how could you, how could you love me?  
When all you ever gave me were open wounds?_

Kai smiled softly and wrapped his arms around Rei's neck, pulling him closer. Rei's eyes widened but he in turn placed his hands on Kai's hips and closed his eyes, enjoying the sensation of Kai's body pressed against his own.

_Ohgodohgodohgod Rei feels good. I shouldn't... be doing this...oh screw it._ Kai thought.

His soft smile turned into a full on grin as he suddenly pulled Rei lips to his own. Rei's eyes snapped open and for a moment, neither moved.

Rei closed his eyes again, Relaxing and allowing himself to feel how nice Kai's warmth felt against his own body. _I think I've died and gone to heaven… Though I don't want to be dead. That would be bad. Please God don't let me be dead. I- Oh!_ Rei gave up on all coherent thought when he felt Kai gently nibbling on his bottom lip, asking for entrance.

Tala watched the two from over his lover's shoulder. _My make out senses are never wrong._ He thought smugly. No one else seemed to have noticed Kai and Rei yet. Tala wrapped his arms around Bryan's waist and continued to watch them, feeling a glow of pride in the bottom of his stomach.

"What are you smiling at, love?" Bryan asked, holding his lover closer.

"Just at the fact that my matchmaking skills are fantastic." Tala said, giving Bryan a peck on the cheek before going back to watching the two boys.

"Tal, you're such a voyeur."

"And proud of it. Now shh. I'm enjoying the moment."

_Tell me why you broke me down and betrayed my trust in you  
I'm not giving up, giving in when will this war end?  
When will it end?_

Rei moaned deep in his throat as he felt Kai's tongue begin to explore his mouth. His grip on the Russian's hips tightened and he pulled him closer- apparently that was still possible.

Kai smiled through the kiss and started to flick his tongue gently against Reis, drawing more moans out of the neko-jin. Rei's own tongue fought against Kais, while his hand slowly slid down to cup Kai's ass.

Kai groaned.

This got people's attention. A small circle of space appeared around the two as people stared at them.

"Well that's new and different." Lee commented, earning him a slap over the head from Tala.

"Shh. Don't you know a perfect moment when you see one? Don't ruin it."

Kai and Rei continued irregardless, too lost in each other to notice Lee's irreverence.

Michael grimaced. "Dudes, I don't know about you, but I'm here to mosh. So, and I know I'm probably going to get hit or something for this, but, could you take it to another room? And if you _do_ do anything, can you keep the noise down?"

"Michael, dude, they can't be louder than Tala."

"Johnny was."

"But Johnny's a freak." Michael countered.

Kai stopped his assault on Rei's mouth to look up at their audience. "Do you mind?" He asked, peeved.

"You two are the ones making out in the middle of our moshpit." Michael told him.

"Kai?" Rei asked blearily, coming out of his Kai filled haze. He blinked and looked around before turning a deep shade of red. "Why's everyone staring at us?"

Kai smiled down at the neko-jin. "Don't worry." He suddenly hefted Rei up and tossed him over his shoulder. He walked to the door, ignoring Reis cries to put him down.

"Don't worry Michael. I don't intend to do anything to Rei." Kai said as he walked. Then he stopped at the door and looked over the shoulder that Rei wasn't on. "Yet."

_How could you, how could you, how could you hate me?  
When all I ever wanted to be was you?  
How could you, how could you, how could you love me?  
When all you ever gave me were open wounds?_

_------_

_Meanwhile, in Johnny and Roberts room... _

"Yes! God Robert Yes!"

_Or... maybe not. _

_------ _

_How about with Emily and Mariah?_

Emily stared at Mariah skeptically. "You can't be serious."

_Yes, much better_

"Of course I'm serious. This is my serious face." Mariah pointed to her face, which was set in a 'serious' expression. "When I have this face I'm serious."

Emily cocked an eyebrow at her. "Riiight."

"What? Why won't you believe that I'm getting over my obsession with pink?"

"Because Pink is your inner being, Mariah."

"No it's not! I'm _deep_."

"Yes, deep. Deeply pink that is."

"Yeah? Well..." Mariah thought for a few minutes. "Well, you're deeply nerdy!"

Emily face planted into her doona. "It took you that long to come up with that crappy comeback?"

"Shut up! Anyway, I was thinking. I want to do something drastic. Do a complete overhaul of my… well… everything really… How does that sound?"

"Like riveting fun." Emily deadpanned.

"I'm being serious!"

"Yes, your face shows that."

"Emily! Please, I need you to be normal for this! Then you can go back to being strangely out of character."

Emily rolled her eyes. "Fine. But I'm not being out of character!"

"You _so_ are."

"Not!"

"Too!"

"Not!"

"Too"

_This is getting boring. Let's look in on someone else_

_------_

_Ah, this place shows promise. _

Kai walked into his and Reis shared room, carefully lowering Rei to one of the beds, then laying down beside him.

Rei looked at him with confused eyes. "Kai? What…?"

"The loud music woke me up. Want to finish my sleep."

Rei grinned. "You're funny sometimes, did you know that?" He asked softly.

"You know, I really should be offended by that. Somehow I'm not." Kai said sleepily, his eyelids drooping. "Good night." He mumbled, burying his head into the join of Rei's neck.

"'Night" Rei sighed and briefly glanced out at the glaring sunshine outdoors. _Some night._

He smiled and buried his face in Kais soft hair, breathing in deeply. The scent of ash invaded his nose, as well as the scent of freshly fallen snow, no doubt from having had been outside.

He curled up slightly and felt himself drift off to sleep. In his sleep he began to dream.

_Rei walked out of the doorway of the manor and stared across at the grounds. There was something wrong with the picture he was seeing but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. The dark smudge of the shed on the outskirts was in its correct place… the large gate at the end of the drive way was there… the graveyard was… wait. The graveyard? _

_He stood, staring at the graveyard, before he felt his feet start to move and he walked over to the graves. He started reading them. And choked on the air. **Lee Yin** What? **Mariah Yin** No.. **Spencer Nadelenko** How? _

_Rei walked past the graves of most of his friends, shaking his head slowly. No. No, this couldn't be real. Rei started as he felt to arms wrap around his waist and a head come to rest on his shoulder. He relaxed when he smelt a faint hint of ash and snow and saw the two toned hair of his supposed attacker. "Kai? What happened?" _

_Kai looked across the graves. "Too much." _

_"What do you mean?" _

_Kai closed his eyes. "It was...the house. Or something in it. Everything went downhill after Tyson fell down the stairs." _

_"But Kai, that was only last night." Kai raised an eyebrow. _

_"Rei, it was several weeks ago." _

_Rei blinked. "What? Kai? I don't understand." _

_"Neither do I. That doesn't change much though…" Kai looked sadly at the mass of graves in front of them. _

_"Kai!" Tala called, running towards them in a panic. "Kai! Have you seen Bryan?" _

_Kai shook his head. "Where was he last?" _

_"I don't know! If I knew I'd be with him! Where is he?" Tala asked frantically, tears of panic streaming down his face. "What if…?" _

_"No! He's not dead! He can't be! He can't be because he promised we wouldn't dig each other's graves! He's not dead! HE'S NOT DEAD!" _

_"Tala calm down!" Kai let go of Rei and grabbed his friend's shoulders. "Pull yourself together Tal!" _

_Rei staggered backwards. Bryan? Not Bryan too. Not another addition to the graveyard. Not Bryan. _

* * *

Please tell us what you think! 


	8. Chapter 8

**animeobsession:** Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear animeobsession/Jess happy birthday to me /blows party blower/

**PandaPjays:** Now everyone! FOR SHE'S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW etc etc

**animeobsession:** /puts on party hat/

**PandaPjays:** /puts on party hat/

**PandaPjays:** /stares/-/cracks up/

**animeobsession:** lol. scary, we did it at the same time

**PandaPjays: **yepyep

**animeobsession:** it's like the Tala thing all over again

**PandaPjays:** I forget the Tala thing ... what was the Tala thing?

**animeobsession:** you said: I'll use Kai (insert Kai picture)!

then i said: Then ill use Rei!

/Kai (insert Kai picture)and Rei start making out/

and Then we both said, well i'll use tala and put the same pic up at the same time

**PandaPjays:** I remember that!

**animeobsession:** lol, we have to let someone watch us write

**PandaPjays:** That was hell funny- signs when you spend too much time talking... /thinks on that/ you can never spend too much time talking

**animeobsession:** its too funny not too. true. Ok, as everyone just saw IT IS MY BIRTHDAY!

**PandaPjays:** Then... I was a dumb person and accidently closed the rest of our conversation and thus got rid of anything that we said whiledoing our notes/hides from random rotten tomatoes/ Basically went along the lines that this next chapter contains animeobsession's Favourite line- said by Tala (who else) which I'm going to put down the bottom so you can see and laugh- If you can guess it I'll give you a cookie! And that it's also got my favourite part- involving a certain person's boxers with a certain persons face emblazoned on it. Ok! Yep, that was pretty much it. Sadly, due to party commitmentsand lack of time in general(at the moment my mum is yelling at me to get off the com)animeobsession and I can't write the review replies- we're really sorry. **WE LOVE ALL REVIEWERS.** Never ever get that wrong we do love you all and are really sad that we can't reply this chapter.

**N/B: If you Review (please do) please sign in so we can review reply you- if you sign in annonymously please leave your email so we can review reply that way.**

**PandaPjays:** Ok! Enjoy the chapter!

* * *

"BRYAN!" Rei screamed, waking himself up. He sat up and huddling into himself, trying to stop the sobs that wracked his body. 

"Rei! What's wrong?" Kai asked, alarmed.

Rei uncurled himself and latched onto Kai, crying into his neck.

"Rei..." Kai ran his hand through Reis hair. "Rei-koi. What's wrong? Why did you yell out Bryans name?"

"It... was a bad dream...a really bad dream..."

Rei tried to calm down but found himself crying harder and holding on to Kai tighter. It had felt so real. It couldn't have just been a dream. It was so real…

Kai hugged the neko-jin closer to his body and made soothing noises. "It's ok. It was just a dream. I'm here now."

_But you –were- there_ Rei thought despairingly.

Eventually, Reis tears slowed and he lessened his grip on his lover.

"I was outside." Kai looked at Rei, nodding to show he was listening. "And something didn't feel right. And everything was normal, except that there were graves. Lots of graves." Kai held Rei close.

"And then you were there- and you seemed to know what was going on. And then Tala was there and he couldn't find Bryan. And we though that he was-" Rei broke of into another sobbing fit. When he had recovered he looked up at Kai. "We couldn't find him, Kai."

"It's ok Rei. It was just a bad dream." Kai said, gently kissing Rei's shoulder. "But if you still don't feel sure," another kiss, now on Rei's neck, "We can go find Bryan," now a kiss on Rei's cheek, "And make sure he's still alive."

Rei smiled through his tears and kissed Kai gently on the lips. "But we'll never find him in this house."

"Please, it'd be like losing Tala. They're attached at the hip…and various other places…" Kai said, smirking, glad that Rei had calmed down.

Rei blushed. "Kai!"

Kai laughed at his boyfriend and got up, stretching as he did so. Rei watched him stretch, praying to God that he wasn't drooling. Although, knowing his luck, he probably was.

Kai looked at Rei staring at him and quirked an eyebrow. "If you keep on staring your eyes might drop out." He said bluntly.

Rei blinked and glared at the Russian. "Your ego is waay to big for your own good."

"You wouldn't have it any other way." Kai told him, smirking and leaning down to kiss the neko-jin on his cheek.

Rei smirked back. "Guess your right." He stood up, stretching and noting, with some smugness, that Kai was watching him.

"If you keep on staring your eyes might drop out." he mimicked.

Kai rolled his eyes and walked to the door, opening it for Rei. "You first, monsieur" He said mockingly.

"Don't mind if I do" Rei told him walking out of the room. "And what's with the French? You sound like Ollie."

"I was going for the language of love but sounding like Ollie suits me. Really depends on if he makes you go weak at the knees"

"Only one person can make me go weak at the knees." Rei said, reaching up and kissing Kais cheek. "And he's standing right next to me."

"Oh ReiRei! I never knew!"

Rei spun around to see Tala running at him, Bryan not too far behind him.

Rei visibly relaxed when he saw Bryan. _Maybe it was just a dream._ He thought, relieved. _But it felt so real…_

"What do you mean by that Tala?" Kai questioned the redhead.

"He must have meant me! After all, I was next to him."

Kai snorted. "Yeah. If next to him means down the hall."

Tala huffed and took to draping himself over the neko-jin, who was trying to get the Russian away from him.

Kai glared at Tala and casually dug his fingers into his ribs.

Tala winced and danced away from Kai's fingers and off Rei. "Kaaaai" He whined.

Kai rolled his eyes and smirked. "Yes?" He asked.

Tala hmphed and walked back to Bryan, hugging him around his waist. "At least _someone_ here loves me." He told them grumpily.

Rei, meanwhile, had got an evil plan. He snuck behind Tala, who was nuzzling Bryan's neck, and smiled as he saw how baggy Tala's pants were. He snuck a little closer, not too close, ignoring the raised eyebrows of both Kai and Bryan, until he could see Tala's boxers, just peeking out over his pants.

He grinned evilly.

Rei took two parts of the elastic of Tala's boxers in his hands and yanked upwards, smirking as Tala jumped at least a metre in the air and shrieked like a little girl. Revenge was sweet but he hadn't finished yet.

While Tala was still somewhat airborne he grabbed Tala's pants and as Tala's feet touched the ground he yanked sharply downwards, the pants falling around Tala ankles.

He laughed and ran down the hall.

Tala's eyes widened and he bent down quickly to retrieve his undergarments, his skin beginning to match his hair. He straightened and began pelting after the neko-jin. "REI! GET YOUR GORGEOUS ARSE BACK HERE!" He yelled, turning a corner and disappearing from sight.

Bryan and Kai blinked.

"Did my eyes just deceive me, or did Tala just get dacked?" Kai said, rubbing at one of his eyes.

"He did get dacked. And Rei gave him an atomic wedgie too." Both boys winced as they heard a loud crash from somewhere down the hall. "Hope that wasn't something expensive."

Rei's yell of despair echoed throughout the hallway.

"…Guess it might have been…" Bryan told Kai, smirking.

Kai rolled his eyes. "I don't like Tala's chances. I think he may lose some limbs before the days out."

Bryan yawned and stretched. "As long as he leaves the most important ones I don't mind"

Kai raised an eyebrow at the lavender haired boy.

"I meant his arms! Gutter mind." he muttered as an afterthought.

Kai raised his hands in front of him. "I didn't say anything! Why do you always blame me?"

"Because when it's not Tala, or Ian, or Max, or Tyson then its you." Kai raised an eyebrow.

"No it's not."

"Of course it is. You enjoy making my life miserable."

"I do not! Is it my fault that I happen to be involved in a lot of schemes that will eventually lead to your downfall?" Kai asked, spreading his hands out in a gesture of helplessness.

"Do I have to dignify that question with an answer?"

Kai sighed. "No."

There was another large crash, and Tala ran out into the hall, closely followed by a furious Rei. Tala ran and attempted to hide behind Kai, who moved out of the way, so he opted for option two: Bryan.

Who also moved out of the way.

"BRYYYYYYYY! You're supposed to love me!"

"I do love you. But there's no way I'm going to defend you from an angry kitty."

"What did you do anyway?" Kai asked, mildly. "Last time I checked you were chasing Rei."

"I _was_ then…"

"_Tala_" Rei said warningly. "Do you value your eyes? They're the first things to go if you finish that sentence."

Tala gulped and kept his mouth shut.

Rei looked over everyone and felt his anger slowly start to diminish, the thoughts of his dream returning.

"ReiRei? What's wrong?" Tala asked, getting over his fear of the 'Kitty of Doom' and walking over to the younger boy.

"Nothing Tal. Just...I had a bad dream."

_"No! He's not dead! He can't be! He can't be because he promised we wouldn't dig each other's graves! He's not dead! HE'S NOT DEAD!"_

"A really bad dream."

Tala slung his arm around Rei's shoulders. "Care to share with the class?"

Rei shook his head and poked Tala in the stomach. "No. I really don't."

"Are you sure? I could always tell everyone about a certain pair of boxers that you own with a certain person's head emblazoned all over it."

Rei coloured a deep red. "But you won't." He tried to shake off the ominous feeling that the dream had given him yet again. It had just seemed so real. Tala's face had had every detail in it to utter perfection- not like the usual fuzzy quality of dreams. He never wanted to see that expression on the redhead's face ever again- not even in his sleep.

Kai looked curious. "What was that Tala? I've never heard of those? Care to tell me and Bryan?"

Tala grinned evilly. "But of course. Rei has some lovely boxers with-mmph!"

"Tala, if you speak of them, I will pull your spleen out through your ass and feed it to you, with your balls on the side!"

Bryan smirked at _that_ amusing mental picture.

"So glad to see that you're concerned for my safety. " Tala complained, glaring at his lover.

"I'm concerned. Just not _overly_ concerned. You'll just have to tell me about these _interesting_ undergarments when we're out of Kitty's hearing."

Rei glared at Tala. "You say a word and you will regret it."

"What are you talking about? I think it's rather cute- especially considering how hard they must have been to find. You've got a real collectors item there. Not only do they have-" Tala caught Rei's glare "Rhubarb's face on them but also you've worn them. You could sell them for millions on Ebay."

Kai raised an eyebrow as Bryan let out a bark of laughter. "Rhubarb?"

"Yes, Rhubarb. It's a code name."

"For?"

"I like my spleen where it is. And I like my balls where they are. So I'm not going to tell you."

Rei grinned and nodded. "Good boy." He said, satisfied.

"You do know that he's going to find out don't you?" Tala asked, grinning, indicating to Kai.

"But not yet. He's not going find out about Rhubarb yet."

"How does Tala know about Rhubarb anyway?" Kai asked, struggling not to grin at the ridiculous name.

"_That's_ something else you won't find out till later."

"Please, I just gave you a taste of your own-" Tala gulped when he saw Rei's eyes narrow. "-Rhubarb"

"So, Rei. Who is this mysterious rhubarb? He's not that Hashmeer guy that Kevin and Tala were dating, is it?" Bryan said, his face darkening.

Tala snorted and hung himself off Bryan. "BryBry, I've already told you who Hashmeer is. There's no need to panic."

"But what if Rei's been cheating on Kai with Hashmeer?" Tala slapped his head.

"Hashmeer is not going to steal Rei from Kai." He reached up to peck Bryan on his cheek. "Or me from you."

"…Unless we take a vow of celibacy to follow the ways of Hashmeer…" Rei mused allowed.

Tala's eyes widened in horror and shock. "Hashmeer wouldn't do that to us would he?" He asked in a whisper, too afraid to voice that possibility in anything more than that quiet sound.

Rei cackled. "I hope not."

Bryan and Kai exchanged confused looks.

"Do I want to know?" Bryan asked the other quietly.

Tala and Rei turned to Bryan and Kai, both looking completely serious (which was odd, considering Tala rarely used his serious face).

"We both are believers in the religion of Shwa, of which the God is Hashmeer. 'Our Lord Hashmeer, bless us with good Shwa, so that we may rest our haids at night, upon our beloved boyfriends chests'."

"Schfifty five."

Then, both boys broke into loud laughter.

"Uh…huh…" Kai said slowly, looking at Rei carefully, checking him for any telltale crazy-person signs. He wasn't quite sure what the signs of a crazy person would be but he had a sneaking suspicion that a crazy person would look a lot like Tala.

No… Rei didn't have any red hair, nor was he bouncing like the insane-one was. It just had to be over exposure to Tala.

"Rei. Come here."

"Why?"

"Because I think Tala is making you crazy."

Bryan snorted and walked over to his boyfriend, hugging him tightly. "Tal-ushka can make anyone crazy."

Tala grinned and nuzzled Bryan's neck affectionately. "I hope you mean that in a nice way."

"Of course! You don't see anyone else being loved quite as much for their rather… unique brand of mental instability, do you?"

"Damn right." Tala told him, leaning back into his lover.

Tala started kissing Bryans neck softly, while Bryan tilted his head back, giving Tala more space to work.

Tala grinned and gently bit Bryan where his neck met his shoulder, sucking on the skin there afterwards.

"Um. We'd...better go now. Right Kai?" Kai nodded and sat down in a chair placed conveniently in the hall. "Kai! I said-ah!"

Kai pulled Rei into his lap, gently kissing the back of the younger boys neck.

Rei felt all of the muscles in the back of his neck suddenly go into overdrive, becoming hypersensitive as a result of Kai's ministrations. He tilted his head sideways, allowing Kai's attentions to spread to the side of his neck and along his jawbone.

Rei made a sound deep in the back of his throat as a leaned back on to Kai, craving more contact between them.

Kai smiled and pressed his lips to Reis, the smile becoming a smirk when Rei groaned. The neko-jin wrapped an arm around the back of Kais neck, opening his mouth when he felt Kais tongue running along his lips.

The two boys kissed for several minutes, barely hearing the 'MY MAKEOUT SENSES ARE TINGLING!", only aware of each other.

They broke apart, panting softly and looked at the other boys, suddenly noticing that Tala was kneeled before them, having had watched them making out and he wanted a close up.

Rei blushed when he saw how close Tala was. Kai just glared at the redhead. "Do you mind?" He asked pointedly.

"No, no I don't mind at all. Please, continue on. Pretend I'm not even here." Tala told them, grinning and placing his hands in his lap like an overexcited preschooler.

Kai rolled his eyes at his friend. "You're such a pervert."

"Duh."

Bryan had a hand to his forehead, shaking his head at his voyeur of a boyfriend. "Tala, leave them alone. Let them makeout in peace."

"But Bryan! They're so hot when they makeout!"

"Yeah, so are we. Speaking of which..." Bryan grabbed Tala and dragged him (A/N-/snort/ doubt he was dragged) into their room.

Rei stared after the redhead in shock before turning to Kai. "Do you think he'll ever realize just how scary he really is?" He asked him.

"No. If he did know he probably would be all conservative."

They both shuddered at that thought. Even though Tala was insane it was just natural for him to be so. If he wasn't… let's just say that there would be rains of fire and headless horsemen running around.

"Now where were we before we were rudely interrupted." Kai said, pulling his boyfriend back down into another passionate kiss, while moans came from Tala and Bryan's room.

Then there was a horrible screech and Rei pulled away from Kai, both turning to look at what had interrupted them, Kai with an uncharacteristic look of fear on his face.

"REIREI! WHAT ARE YOU DOING! GET OFF HIM!"

Rei looked at Mariah with eyes wide. "Um…"

Mariah looked scarier than usual. Like a Chainsaw Barbie in need of a chainsaw. There was practically steam coming out of her ears. "WEREN'T YOU LISTENING TO ME? GET OFF HIM!"

Rei jumped off Kai's lap like it had been electrified, too afraid to argue with the pink one. Kai stood up as well and moved to stand beside Rei.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM! YOU'VE TAINTED MY REIREI ENOUGH ALREADY!"

Kai growled. "Rei is not yours. He's never been yours. And if I have my way, he never _will_ be yours. Rei is mine. You hear that, pink _freak_. Mine. And you want to know why? Because I LOVE him!"

"You? _Love_ him? You don't have emotions! Rei deserves someone that can show him that they love him!"

Rei stared between the two of them, anger rising in his belly. "I'M NOT ANYONE'S!" He shouted at them, making them both fall silent to look at Rei. "You're arguing about me like I'm some sort of property that you can win because you love it the most! I'm not! I'm a person, you know. I don't like it when people start talking about me, forgetting that I'm right next to them. And YOU" Rei said, rounding on Mariah. "I have no idea where the hell you got the idea that I liked you or that I was your _anything_. I love you. I do. BUT WHEN YOU ACT LIKE THIS I DON'T LIKE YOU." He turned to Kai. "And YOU I've had a crush on you for as long as I remember! But just because I have doesn't mean that you can say that I'm yours without asking me about it! You can't assume these things! I know you have a protective streak but that doesn't give you the right to dictate things for me!" Rei stormed off, leaving Kai and Mariah gaping after him.

Kai was quick to recover and ran after Rei, leaving only Mariah in the hall. She stood, looking after them for a few minutes, then her legs gave out and she collapsed.

_------_

"Rei! Rei!"

Rei ignored Kai as he ran away from what had just happened. Why had he said all of those things? Sure they were true, but why did he have to say them? He had had to deal with Mariah having a crush on him for as long as he could remember… it was just… when Kai had begun talking about him like he was some sort of property that he owned… Rei burst out of the front door of the manor and continued sprinting out into the snow-covered lands surrounding the building.

"REI, STOP!" He could hear Kai, getting closer now. He knew that Kai would reach him soon, so he allowed himself to fall to his knees in the snow, sobbing.

Kai crashed down beside him, pulling him into his arms. Rei struggled to get out, but soon gave up, sobbing against Kais chest.

"Rei. Oh god Rei. I'm so sorry." Kai pulled him tighter against his chest, burying his face in Rei's hair.

Rei shook his head, pulling away from Kai. "No! Why are you apologizing? I'm yours aren't I? Why would you be apologizing to some_thing_ you already own?" He slipped out of Kai's arms to slide backwards in the snow, away from the Russian.

Kai stared at Rei, open-mouthed. "Rei… I'm sorry."

Rei continued to slide back, until he slipped a little and fell over. Kai crawled to him and pulled him into his arms again.

"Stop it! You're not sorry, because you have no reason to be sorry!"

"I do have a reason! I let my possessiveness take control and said things that I shouldn't have said! And even worse then that, " Kai hugged Rei closer, "I made you cry."

Rei fought against Kai's grip before giving up suddenly and hanging limp in the others arms. "Kai…" He said miserably, leaving the sentence hanging between them.

He didn't know what he wanted Kai to say. Something deep and meaningful would have been nice, but would have felt fake. He could still feel the sick feeling in his stomach that he had got when Kai had begun to talk about him like a _thing_. It refused to go away no matter how much he wanted it to.

"Rei?" Rei said nothing. "Rei, I'm sorry. Please, talk to me." Nothing again. "I understand if you hate me but, please, just... just talk to me. Tell me you hate me." Rei said nothing again, ignoring him, until he felt something wet hit his cheek.

He turned, shocked, to look at the cold Russian who had finally dropped all barriers and shields and masks.

Rei reached up to touch the strange wetness that was on Kai's cheek. He didn't say anything but instead watched in fascination as his fingers traveled up the path of moisture to get to its point of origin.

He wiped Kai's eyes free of the tears that were still clinging to his lashes gently. He'd never seen Kai cry before. Never.

"Kai..."

"I'm sorry, Rei. I wasn't thinking, at all. I tend to be very; _very_ possessive over things I love. At least, as a child. For a long time I had no one to love. Then you came along, and finally, I had someone that I loved, and until just before, I had no idea you loved me back. So, though I felt highly possessive, you didn't...belong is most defintely not the right word...you... weren't… in a relationship with me. So I didn't act on my feelings, because I had no right to."

Rei sighed and leaned against Kai's chest. "You can't go and say things like you did before Kai. Everything in me is screaming that I _am_ yours but I hate the idea that I'm some sort of property that you can dictate how I work. It's definitely not on my top ten 'nice feelings' list."

Kai echoed Rei's sigh and brought his hand up to hold Rei's head against him. "I'm sorry. I don't know what else I can say."

Rei snuggled into him. "It's ok. I know that I'm yours. Just, lets not ever mention it again, all right? That way I wont take it badly."

Kai smiled and played with the end of his lover's ponytail. Then he smirked. "Well, you're not really _mine_ yet." Rei looked up at him in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Kai leant down to whisper in Reis ear.

"I haven't _claimed_ you yet."

Rei blushed. "Pervert."

Kai smirked and nodded. "I learn from the best."

"Speaking of, do you think Tala and Bryan are… finished yet?"

Kai shrugged. "I have no idea. Frankly I don't want to know."

"I don't think anyone does."

"And yet everyone knows. Tala's got one strong set of lungs."

"Good thing he doesn't smoke, or they probably would've collapsed on him by now." Rei shivered. "It's cold."

"Probably because we're in the snow, love." Kai gently put Rei down and stood up, brushing off the snow, then, grinning evilly, he picked Rei up bridal style. Rei let out a yelp.

"Kai! Put me down!"

"And have you run away on me again? Hell no." Kai told him, opening the door to the manor with difficulty. "I never want to let you go again, ReiRei." He whispered in the neko-jin's ear.

Rei wrinkled his nose. "You're going to have to. What about when… I have to have a shower?"

"I see no problem in following you there as well." Kai told him, his eyes brightening at the thought.

Rei rolled his eyes. "You _are_ a pervert."

Kai sighed dramatically. "Yes, yes I am. It comes from growing up and hanging around Tala and Bryan, who love to let people know about their love life, as I'm sure you know."

"Is there something wrong with showing that you like something?" Kai turned, Rei still in his arms, to face Tala.

"Yes. Or showing as loud as you do, anyway."

Tala smirked. "How do you know ReiRei isn't louder then me?"

Rei stared at Tala in shock before nimbly jumping out of Kai arms to run over and bap Tala over the head. "I'm surrounded by perverts aren't I?" He asked plaintively.

Tala nodded and draped an arm around Rei's shoulders, ignoring the slightly possessive growl from Kai. "I thought that you might have realized that by now, ReiRei."

"I was trying denial."

"Tell me how that works out for you."

There was a loud thump, and they turned to look up the hall at Tala and Bryans room. The door was open and Bryan was lying on the ground, groaning. He looked down the hall at his hyperactive boyfriend and company.

"How the hell do you still have the energy to get up? Let alone run around looking for your 'babies' because you thought they didn't love you anymore?"

Tala grinned and ran down the hall to tackle Bryan where he lay. "Wouldn't you like to know."

Bryan rolled his eyes and looked up at Tala. "Yeah I would. There has to be a secret of some sort. I feel like I could sleep for a week."

Tala grinned and leaned down to kiss Bryan on his cheek. "You can if you want. The only condition is that you have to leave your body entirely in my control for that week."

That made Bryan sit up.

"Hell no! I'm up."

Kai snorted while Rei blushed heavily.

"You guys..."

"Don't worry ReiRei! Soon, my pervertedness will spread onto you! Just like it has to Bryan and Kai. Then, you will be perverted too!"

Rei laughed and held his fingers in a cross. "No! Not the curse of the perverted! Get it away!"

Tala laughed evilly and got back on his feet, ran back over to Rei and wrapped himself around the neko-jin.

"You know what would be fun?" Tala asked excitedly, hugging Rei closer to himself. "A Foursome!"

All three sane bladers blinked and Rei turned scarlet.

"WHAT?" Kai asked, marching toward Tala and prying him off Rei to dump him on the ground. "Get your hands off, Wolfy."

Tala shook his head, while he rubbed at his backside. "Still possessive Kai?"

Kai nodded and pulled Rei to him.

Rei looked at him, confused. "Still?"

"I had a brief fling with the wolf once. Had an even briefer one with Bryan. Had to do something in the Abbey. If we felt somewhat loved, then the beatings didn't hurt as much."

"Oh…" Rei said, looking at the ground. He still didn't know much about Kai's past. It felt weird knowing that the other two people in the hallway with them knew so much more about Kai in so many different ways. He felt rather… inadequate wasn't quite the word he was looking for it but described the feeling in the pit of his stomach accurately.

"This isn't going to be a brief fling, if that's what you're thinking, Rei. I intend to keep you with me forever." Kai said, holding Rei closer.

Rei shook his head. "It's not that. It's just..."

"Just what?"

Rei looked at Kai. "Knowing that I barely know anything about you. Knowing that the two other perverts in this hall..."

"Hey!"

"-Know more about you then I do. It just... makes me feel… inadequate."

Kai hugged the neko-jin closer to him. "You'll never be inadequate, Rei. If anything you're over-adequate. More than I deserve."

Rei opened up his mouth to protest but was interrupted by Tala. "Don't say a word, ReiRei. A miracle has just happened. Kai has said something _humble_."

"Way to kill a mood, Tala." Bryan told him.

Tala sniffed and rolled over to Bryan, cuddling into his boyfriend.

"Um, Tala? What are you doing?"

"Having my after-sex-snuggle. I was all panicky because we left you out in the hall, that I didn't get my after-sex-snuggle."

"I meant why were you rolling down the hall." Kai said shaking his head. Rei looked a little sad.

"You were worried about us?"

"Of course! I thought my babies wouldn't love me anymore!"

Kai quirked an eyebrow. "I _really_ hope you didn't just call me your 'baby' "

"What if I did?" Tala asked him, continuing to snuggle with Bryan.

"Do you like your balls attached to your body?"

"You can't threaten me, Kai. I've seen you naked."

Rei gaped as the ridge over Kai's nose turned a faint shade of pink. Kai BLUSHED. Kai had the BLUSHING gene. It was a day of miracles. Kai could BLUSH! Kai looked cute when he BLUSHED. Rei thought he could die and go to heaven quite happily now.

Kai looked at the look of awe on Reis face, and looked away, blushing even more heavily. "Y-yeah, so what. I'll still tear your balls off."

Woah! Kai stuttered! Rei couldn't help but stand on his tippy toes and put a gentle kiss on Kais cheek.

Kai turned to him. "Wha?"

"Calm down Kai." Rei pulled Kai down into a more passionate kiss.

Tala grinned happily and watched them unashamedly. His babies were so hot when they made out.

_------_

Oliver sighed and rolled over. He still couldn't get to sleep. Every time he closed his eyes. Images of a certain blonde Italian popped up before his eyes. He tried to rid his thoughts of Enrique but was finding it increasingly difficult.

It didn't help that Enrique wasn't in the room for Oliver's staring pleasure. He had popped out to get a midnight snack.

"Stupid Enri. Pull a Tyson on me, why don't ya?"

He huffed and pulled the covers tighter around himself. He was currently praying to god that Enrique wasn't putting any food he was getting on the counter where Tala and Bryan had... had...

THUMP!

...Been doing what they were doing now. That was the other reason he couldn't get to sleep.

He blinked as moonlight reflected off the CD player that had been abandoned in the room they were moshing in. He really did need to take it back to Michael…

After he got some sleep. Oliver closed his eyes again and tried to will himself to sleep.

His attempt failed miserably.

THUMP THUMP THUMP

"SHUT UP!"

Silence.

THUMP THUMP

"Cher Dieu!" Oliver pulled a pillow over his head.

A loud, choked yell echoed throughout the house and the thumping ceased with one final 'fwop'. Oliver peeked out from beneath his pillow and sighed. Where the hell did they get the energy? He was buggered just from wandering the house all day. How did Tala and Bryan do it?

He hadn't heard anything from Johnny and Robert so he assumed that they were having a break from ravishing each other. Oliver couldn't say that he wasn't thankful.

He sighed and rolled over, looking at the door. _Hurry up, Enri._

Then he heard a click. It seemed strangely loud in the silence. Then a whirring sound. Then the whirring slowed to a stop, before starting up again, faster then before.

_I am the eyes inside staring back at you_

Oliver frowned. How did that turn on? And why was it in the middle of the second song on the CD? He sat up and tried to swing his legs around to get up and turn off the CD player. His legs felt like lead weights. They wouldn't move at all.

_What?_ Oliver wondered, a small bead of sweat forming and running down the side of his face.

He suddenly felt very heavy over his whole body, forcing him to lie back on the bed, looking up at the ceiling. He could hear voices down the hall, telling him to turn the music off. He just looked at the ceiling. The boring, regular... wait.

There was something... very odd on the ceiling above him. Two connected semi circles. And there were two, right next to each other. And, they were twitching.

Oliver's eyes widened as he tried to work out what the hell he was looking at.

_I am the eyes inside staring back at YOU!_

The Frenchman lay as still as he could then lunged forward suddenly, trying to make his immobile body move. It refused to obey and command he gave it. A desperate whimper escaped his slightly parted lips.

The things twitched. Oliver stopped all movements to look at the strange things. Which suddenly snapped open. He found himself staring into a massive pair of gold, slitted eyes. The eyes seemed to come towards him quickly.

Then his scream echoed through the house.

_------_

Enrique looked up when he heard Oliver's scream. _What?_ He wondered subconsciously as his legs began to pelt up the hallway toward their shared room. "Ollie!" He shouted, coming within ten meters of the door. He briefly noted that it was their room that the music was coming from. He had been wondering who had been playing the song at such a late hour…

All unimportant thoughts. He needed to get to Oliver.

He tried to turn the handle and found it locked.

"What? But I didn't lock the door!" He heard heavy footfalls and noticed Rei, Kai, Tala and Bryan running down the hall, closely followed by Robert and Johnny. The others were poking their heads out wondering what the hell was going on. Speaking of which...

"What the hell is going on?" Rei said, sliding to a halt in front of the door.

Enrique shook his head. "I don't know!" He slammed his fist against the door, behind which he could still here Oliver screaming. "OLLIE!" He yelled through the door. "OLLIE! WHAT'S HAPPENING?" He pounded on the door uselessly. "OLLIE!"

Rei looked from Kai to the door, trying to figure out if there was anything he could do. He was drawing a blank.

And still Ollie's screams came.

Enrique glared at the door, then backed away and ran at it, bashing himself into the door.

"Guys! Help!" Rei was quick to start running with the Italian. Kai followed. They ran at the door once. Twice. BANG! The door slammed open, and the three boys toppled in.

Enrique quickly got to his feet and looked around, seeing the French teen curled up in a corner of the room.

"Ollie? Are you ok?"

His only answer was a wail from the Frenchman. Enrique ran to Oliver's side and touched him on his shoulder.

Oliver screeched and dived forward, away from Enrique's hand and straight in to the wall that was in front of him. His head hit the wall with a dull thud and the constant wail he had been voicing rose a few more decibels.

"Oliver!" Enrique said, panicking.

He noticed that Oliver had his hands held over his eyes.

"Oliver, it's me, Enri?" Oliver lifted his head, but didn't remove his hands.

"Enri? Is it gone?"

"Is what gone?"

"The...the... the, thing... I don't know what it was but...it...it..." The hands held against Oliver's eyes pushed harder.

"Ollie, what happened to your eyes?" Oliver tensed suddenly. "Ollie?"

It was only then that Enrique saw the river of blood flowing down Oliver's arms, which were still raised as he tried to hide his eyes from the world.

"Ollie?" Enri gently grasped the Frenchman's wrists and, ignoring his yell of protest, lowered Oliver's arms to reveal the most horrifying sight he had ever seen.

The river of blood that had been flowing down Oliver's arms had begun in the place where his eyes were _meant_ to be. Instead of the eyes that Enrique had fallen in love with, there was only two sockets, both weeping blood.

* * *

Loved that ending? We did. Ok! Please tell us what you think! 

Oh! Also animeobsession's Favourite line was 'His babys were so hot when they made out.'. Who guessed it?


	9. Chapter 9

**PandaPjays: **HOMG! I am so so so so x10 and a half million sorry for the late late late update

**Animeobsession: **/cowers/ DONT HURT US!

**PandaPjays: **Please? And if you do decide to hurt us leave the panda plushie out of it. And possibly leave fingers intact. Fingers would be nice

**Animeobsession: **Fingers are needed to type.

**PandaPjays: **and typing is very needed.

**Animeobsession: **Because that means we can type the next chappie.

**PandaPjays: **and you want that more than you want out deaths hopefully

**Animeobsession: **/nods/ This chapter is kinda short. . . MY FAULT

**PandaPjays: **both our faults honeybunch. in consolation we're working on teh next chapter as we speak so there should never be another horrible horrible wait again. I solomly swear I will put aside le homework and work on le Frozen Dreams. Tres Schifty Five

**Animeobsession: **So much French. I have soooooooooo much homework to do. TT

**PandaPjays: **I am so with you. I have to whip up a large report tomorrow to hand in. And rewrite my math assingment and do my japanese homework and... /Hashmeer glares at Panda for drifting off teh path of le Frozen Dreams/ ahem

**Animeobsession: **Well, we hope that you enjoy this chapter, which, like the others, is random.

* * *

Enrique held his beloved Frenchman closer as the boy whimpered. The last few minutes had been horrible for them all, but it was worse for Enrique, and much worse for poor Oliver.

_Flashback_

Oliver fought against Enrique's grip on his arms, easily twisting them free when the Italian's grip slackened in shock. Oliver quickly covered his eyes again, whimpering. "It hurts…" He said to no one in general.

Enrique sighed. "I know it does Ollie."

"NO YOU DONT! YOU DONT KNOW WHAT ITS LIKE!" Enrique looked shocked once more, then took a deep breath.

"I know I don't. I'm sorry Ollie. I just... I want to help you, even if I cant."

"Enri…" Oliver started before stopping and trying to try to think of what to say. When he couldn't he growled under his breath and burst out, trying to make the blonde understand. "It hurts! I don't know what happened! There was music and eyes and I couldn't move and… I can't see, Enri! Why can't I see?"

Enri sighed and gently touched Oliver's arm. Oliver immediately stiffened up, but forced himself to calm down. When he seemed relaxed enough, Enrique pulled him into a hug. "I don't know why, Ollie. I don't know what happened to you, and why it happened to you. "

Bryan stepped into the room, slowly; mostly he tried to avoid any sort of emotional situation. But Tala had been telling him to go and see what was going on. Why the redhead didn't go himself was beyond hi-

"Shit." He said flatly. "What happened?"

He looked about the room, and winced. There was blood on the floor, no doubt it had dripped off the Frenchman's arms after leaving his eyes, which now had a piece of cloth over them to slow the bleeding. There was also blood on the bed.

Something tugged at his subconscious and he looked up at the ceiling. There, side-by-side, were two patches of blood, nearly exactly the same size.

"What happened?" He repeated again, tearing his eyes off the unnerving patches on the ceiling to look again at the two boys on the ground.

"If I knew don't you think I'd tell you?" Enrique asked harshly. "He needs an ambulance"

"We've already tried calling for one, but we cant get a signal. And we've tried going outside too and it didn't work there either."

"Has anyone tried walking to get one?" Enrique said, feeling his love shake in his arms.

Bryan raised an eyebrow and jabbed his thumb at the window. "You want to try walking in that and not dieing?"

Enrique looked outside to see a blizzard in full swing. He felt a box of despair close it's lid on top of him, trapping him inside. "We can't just _not do_ anything!" He told the Russian angrily.

"What do you suggest then?" Bryan asked angrily. It was as if the Italian expected him to do something personally. And he couldn't think of anything. It was unsettling and wrong and Bryan did _not_ like it. He was used to knowing what to do in any situations. What was he supposed to do here?

Enrique growled angrily, but soon realised that getting angry wouldn't solve anything. He took a deep breath.

"Sorry Bryan. I didn't mean to get all...snappy." Enrique looked down, noticing that Oliver hadn't moved for a while. "Ollie?" He asked quietly. When the Frenchman didn't move Enrique shook him. "OLLIE!" He looked up at Bryan pleadingly. "Is he de-"

"No." The Russian interrupted him. "Look. He's still breathing. It looks like he's passed out from the pain."

Enrique sighed in relief, then looked down at the Frenchmen sadly. "It must hurt so much..."

Bryan looked at them both, then looked away. "I'm gonna head back to everyone now. Last time I was there they were brainstorming what to do. Hopefully they have some sort of plan."

Enrique nodded slowly, delayed shock beginning to take over his body. "O-Ok" He said numbly. "I'll look after him." He looked at Oliver's blood all over the room. "Um… Who's room can we go into?"

Bryan blinked. There was a complete change of mood. At least it was one he could deal with. "Come into mine and Tala's. There's a double bed in there so you can stay with him." Mentally Bryan was going through the contents of the room he shared with his boyfriend and was trying to think if there were any overt signs of his… activities with Tala over the past day. He couldn't think of anything. He _hoped_ there wasn't anything.

The lilac haired teen walked over to the two boys and made a move to pick up Oliver, but Enrique quickly stopped him.

"What are you doing?"

"Well I _was_ going to carry Oliver into me and Tala's room, because I'm fairly sure you cant. But, if you don't want me to."

Enrique glared at Bryan for a second before handing Oliver's limp form to him. "Be careful with him."

"I wasn't planning to drop him" Bryan retorted. _No. Must be nice. Must be nice_ He reprimanded himself before beginning to walk out of the room with Oliver in his arms.

Bryan shifted the Frenchmen until he was sure he would be comfortable, and walked out of the room with the blond Italian following after him. Once they had reached the room, which didn't take long, as Tala and Bryan were in the room next to Oliver's, Bryan gently kicked the door open and quickly walked over to the bed.

Before he placed Oliver down on the bed he discreetly checked for any sort of… stains. Seeing none, he gently put Oliver down on one side of the bed and straightened. "Ok. You stay with him. Tell us if he wakes up. We'll be in the sitting room."

"Which one?" Enrique asked softly, and truthfully. There were a few in the monster of a house.

"The one near the entrance." Bryan said, naming the one he had been sitting in when Rei had tried to teach Tala how to play mahjongg… was that only a few hours ago? It seemed like another lifetime.

Enrique nodded and lay down next to Oliver. He made sure he didn't look over at the dressing table, where a tube of what _must_ have been lube sat proudly. Obviously, Bryan had forgotten about that.

Without saying another word, Bryan left Enrique to grieve in his own way for all that Oliver had lost while he hadn't been by the Frenchman's side.

_Guilt sucks_ Bryan concluded as he made his way to the sitting room.

_------_

_Meanwhile, in the sitting room._

It was quiet. Everyone was sitting randomly in the room, shocked and confused about what had happened. Kai was sitting on the lounge, with Rei curled up on his lap, and Tala sitting next to them.

When Bryan walked into the room Tala jumped up to hug his lover. "How are they?"

There was no question about the 'they' Tala was talking about.

"Oliver's passed out and Enrique's shattered. I think he blames himself."

Rei curled more into Kai as both other Russians sighed.

They sat there in silence for several seconds, before Tala voiced the questions that had been on everyone's minds.

"How in all hell did it happen? How is it that Oliver lost his eyes? Its not exactly easy to have your eyes pulled out." Tala growled out and hunched over.

"Oh, and I guess you know from experience." Emily snapped.

When Tala didn't answer her Emily blinked. "You _don't_ know from experience. _Do_ you?"

"Boris was having a bad day. Then someone decided in their infinite wisdom to begin harassing one of the female scientists." Bryan explained, leading Tala to a couch before sitting on it and pulling the redhead into his lap. "Boris decided to teach him a lesson about roving eyes. That's not a day _I'll_ ever forget."

Michael stared at them. "Shit. You're not joking."

Kai raised an eyebrow at him. "Why would we joke about something like the abbey? In fact, why would we joke at all?"

"And that wasn't the worst thing we saw there." Spencer said with a shudder. "It was there that we learnt that there are worse things then death."

"Ok. I hate to break up your trip down bad memory lane but we have something urgent to deal with. Your personal traumas can wait. You've dealt with them for this long I'm sure you can go a little bit longer." Johnny cut in.

He earned himself a slap upside the head from Robert and a muttered 'uncouth'

Kai rolled his eyes. "Well, genius. What do you think we should do? We can't get help. There's no signal on any mobile, the landline's screwed and we can't even run for help."

"Does anyone know first aid of some sort?" Rei asked from Kai's lap.

"I know first aid. But I don't really know what I can do here." Emily said. The Russians all raised their hands, saying almost the same thing as Emily. They all sat in thought for several minutes. What _could_ they do?

"Guys? I'm sorry to ask you this but, you know how...you said that guy...at the abbey..." Michael said to the Russians.

"Yes?" Ian answered.

"Um, what did people do to him?"

Kai snorted. "Left him to die."

Michael blinked. "I'm sorry I asked."

Tala sighed and leaned against the comforting firmness of Bryan's chest. "All I can think of is that we give Ollie industrial strength painkillers. As long as his…" Tala trailed off, not wanting to say the word everyone was thinking. "… Don't get infected there's nothing the hospitals would be able to do for him anyway."

"I have some painkillers. They're fairly strong too." Mathilda said from where she was curled up with her boyfriend.

Kevin raised an eyebrow at her. "Now why would you have something like that?"

"Um…" Mathilda blushed and looked away.

"Yeah, Mati. Why would _you_ have really strong painkillers? You haven't got anything wrong with you do you?" Claude asked her from his position lounging on one of the seats.

"No! I just get… cramps." She said before blushing and hiding her face in her boyfriends shoulder.

The roomful of mostly guys frowned, not understanding what she was talking about. The girls in the room made sympathetic noises.

Rei was the first to clue on. "Oh!"

He blushed heavily. The others, seeing his blush, started to ponder on the matter.

Miguel was the next to get it. Then Kai and Tala, who quietly informed Bryan, Spencer and Ian.

Mathilda was slowly hiding herself more in Miguel's shoulder as more guys figured it out.

However, there were some who couldn't. Like Kevin, for example.

"Cramps? What are cramps?"

Mariah thwapped him over the head. "God you're a freak." She told him.

"What do you mean by that?" Kevin asked indignantly. "Cramps could mean anything! They could mean-" He was interrupted by Lee pulling him up into his lap and whispering into his ear. "-WHAT?" He said loudly. "REALLY?" When Lee nodded he looked at Mathilda with new respect. "Glad I'm not a girl." He concluded.

Rei snorted, before covering his mouth with one hand and giggling. Mariah glared at Kevin, but the other two girls just smiled.

"Quite understandable. We have a hellish time. You guys have it easy."

"Yeah, but you girls have to go through hell to make up for the fact that you're smarter, will probably live longer, and are built to last."

"Not to mention the fact that you can carry life."

"And have perfected the art of nagging"

"TALA!"

Tala ducked to avoid the pillow Mathilda had throw at him. The pillow hit Bryan squarely in the face. The lilac haired teen raised an eyebrow at Tala's expression when he realised what his actions had done.

"What have I told you about insulting girls?"

Tala thought for a second. "Um… not smart?"

"Very good Tala! Gold Star effort!"

Rei smiled as Tala got picked on by Bryan and the girls, cuddling into Kai, who rested his head on top of Rei's. Rei sighed. All this talk was doing everyone good, and keeping their minds off what had happened.

Tala snapped back into being serious again. Rei was kind of disturbed at how fast the redhead could change from having the mental age of a three year old to being one of the calmest and most level headed people he knew. "Anyway, can we have those painkillers? You aren't going to need them anytime soon are you?" That earned him another pillow.

"No I wont, hopefully. Just let me go get them." Mathilda said, glaring at Tala. She made sure to 'accidentally' hit Tala over the head as she walked past, which sent him into a whining fit.

"BRY! Mati hurt me!"

Bryan smirked. "You aren't going to complain about being hit by a _girl_ are you?"

Tala nodded emphatically, making Bryan roll his eyes.

Mathilda sighed and began to walk up the stairs toward the room she shared with Miguel. _Tala's such a child sometimes_ She decided as she reached the landing and turned down the hall to go to her room.

She couldn't help but look into Oliver's room, to see if he was ok. But neither he nor Enrique was there, however she could see the next door along open. Tala and Bryan's room. She shuddered, wondering what horrible things might be in there.

That didn't stop her from peering in to see the two boys on the bed, curled against each other in sleep.

She blinked when she realised that it was Oliver and Enrique. Then stared at Oliver.

Enrique had realised somewhere in his practical side that he had to cover up Oliver's eyes and so had pulled a bandage from Tala's luggage to wrap around the Frenchman's head. He didn't want to know why Tala had medical supplies in hi bag. He had known that the answer would disturb him. So, having done that had fallen asleep next to Oliver, comforting him in the only way he knew how. By being _there_.

Oliver had curled into a ball on his side; Enrique was curled slightly around him, with one of his arms wrapped around Oliver's waist.

Mathilda gave the room a quick one-over, looking away quickly as she noticed the bottle of lube, and making sure to not look at the headboard. She wondered if Enrique had noticed them yet.

_Handcuffs? No. I don't wanna know. I don't wanna know I don't wanna know _She began repeating to herself before she walked down the hall to reach her room. She sorted through her bag until she found the pills she had been told to look for._ If Tala uses all of these before I need them I will KILL him. I'd like to see Migi TRY to stop me._

Mathilda made her way back down to the sitting room, throwing the packet at Tala's head as she went, and sitting huffily in Miguel's lap.

Tala blinked as the packet hit his forehead. Then blinked again. Then... "PMS!"

Miguel rolled his eyes and wrapped his arms around Mathilda's waist, tickling the pink-haired girl and making her giggle. "Trust me, you'd _know_ if PMS had anything to do with it."

Mathilda stopped laughing and bapped her boyfriend over the head. "That's mean!"

Claude snickered, which resulted in Mathilda cannonballing into his lap, foot first. His eyes widened and he let out a squeak.

All of the guys in the room looked at him in sympathy and discreetly covered their _sensitive_ areas.

Mathilda smirked and stood up before moving back to Miguel and plonking herself into his lap, not noticing the look of apprehension he gave her.

Claude's eyes looked like they were about to pop out as tears of pain formed in the corners of his eyes. "Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww"

He curled in on himself and whimpered. Aaron started to pat him on the back.

Tala, meanwhile, was laughing his head off at Claude expense, while Rei gave him a dry glare. "Tala stop it."

Tala shook his head. "No way! This is a great day for all! Claude will never have children! Ever! No Mini-Claudes running around and terrorising the world!" He looked up towards the sky. "Hashmeer, you have truly blessed us today."

"I'm going to kill you." Claude growled through gritted teeth.

"Sweetie, you can't kill me if you can't move." Tala said, winking at Claude.

"I'll kill you later. When you're asleep. So no one can help you."

"You're forgetting who I sleep _with_" Tala told him smugly. "He's not going to let you hurt _me_"

Bryan shrugged. "He's probably right there. What would I do without my Tala?" Tala squealed at that and snuggled into him, pulling his face down for a quick… er… very very long… kiss.

"Go Solo?" Someone in the room suggested, earning laughs and disgusted looks.

Though this person shall not be named it will be said that he had green hair and was not knee height to a grasshopper. Literally.

Tala gave him a withered look. "My Bryan will NOT be going solo. As long as I'm around."

"Which wont be long." Claude said, the pain starting to wear off, but only slightly.

Rei sighed. He was almost positive that everyone in the room had forgotten about Oliver. Why shouldn't they? Normally the Frenchman had nothing to do with them. Why should they worry about his injuries and what they meant? Why should they worry about how they had happened?

Kai looked at Rei as the others laughed. Although Rei was smiling at the others antics, it didn't reach his eyes. They usually lit up when he smiled (something Kai noticed from all of his time observing Rei. And his ass. Rei had a nice ass. ), but right now they seemed dull.

"Rei?" He asked quietly. "Are you ok?"

Rei blinked and looked up at Kai. "Hmm? Of course! Why wouldn't I be?" He asked back.

Kai raised an eyebrow and looked at Rei, making the neko-jin sigh and lean back into the Russian. "I just can't get my mind off Ollie."

Kai hugged Rei to him. "It's understandable. We really should be thinking of what happened. But we're sitting here laughing."

"I guess everyone is trying to lighten the mood. Something bad just went down, and to stop from panicking, we're trying to block it out. It's so human of us, to block out what we don't like."

Kai smirked. "You know we are human, don't you, Kitten? Unless there's more neko blood in there then I first thought." He said, poking Rei in the belly.

Rei squeaked and glared at Kai. "You know what I mean."

Kai grinned. "No, I don't think I know what you mean, love." He teased, tilting his head back and to the side slightly.

Rei gave him an exasperated look. Then whined. "Don't tease me or I'll leave you for Tala."

"I HEARD MY NAME!"

"It was nothing Tal! Jeez, his hearing is good."

Rei gave Kai a small smile and nodded before leaning back into the Russian and shutting his eyes. "I don't like getting up in the middle of the night." He told Kai grumpily.

"And you think any of us like getting up at this time?" Tala asked, once again showing off his hearing skill.

"Tala, you're the one who normally keeps us awake." Kai reminded the redhead.

Tala blinked a few times, then smiled innocently. "Who, me? No, it couldn't be. After all," Here he shot a challenging glare and smirk at Johnny, "_I'M_ not the loudest person in this household, am I?"

Johnny raised an eyebrow and matched the smirk that had been directed at him.

"What's the matter, Tala? Sad that you're not top of the list anymore?"

Tala frowned. "You're keeping score? Got any other insecurities you'd like to put on the table?" He asked snippily.

Johnny smirked. "Why would I want to? Do you want to compare them as well?"

"Maybe. Shall we start listing the possibilities, Scotty?"

"What did you call me, ya wranger?"

"You're so dishonourable!" Johnny countered.

"I could have called you something worse, Klingon." Tala smirked at his Star Trek knowledge

"You're one to talk." Johnny grumbled. "I've never heard of a Romulan with honour."

"At least my race is civilised."

"Do you want to say that to my face?"

"I just did, idiot."

Rei was curling up into Kai's side. He generally didn't like conflict between friends, or...he guessed the two red heads were rivals, scary thought...and the fighting was upsetting him.

Though he did have to admit that it was amusing seeing both of them speak fluent Trek.

"You couldn't even tell a Dilithium Crystal from a Jeffries Tube, could you?" Tala asked, smirking.

"You couldn't recite the Borg's catch cry if it jumped up am bit you on the nose!"

"You-" Tala was cut off by Kai standing up, pulling Rei to his feet as well.

"If you're done proving who's the biggest nerd, Rei and I are going to bed. I suggest that everyone else does the same. Tala? Can you look in on Ollie?" He asked, looking at the redhead.

"Can do, Captain!" Tala said, saluting and marching down the hall. He returned shortly after to retrieve Bryan and to hiss, "This isn't over yet." at Johnny.

Johnny glared at Tala. "Seems that today is a good day to die for you."

Tala rolled his eyes and dragged Bryan upstairs with him, waving Mathilda's packet of painkillers vaguely at the rest of the group. "'Night."

Kai nodded in satisfaction. He didn't enjoy being woken up halfway through the night. He especially didn't like being woken up if something like this was happening.

It reminded him too much of the Abbey.

"Come to bed?" He asked Rei who seemed to be half falling asleep on him.

Rei looked up at him, eyes clouded by drowsiness. They seemed bigger to Kai. He yawned and snuggled into Kai more.

"Carry me."

Kai let out a loud, exaggerated sigh. "Must I?"

Rei nodded sleepily. "Unless you want me to fall asleep on the stairs…" He added as an afterthought, vaguely."

Kai sighed and scooped Rei up, bridal-style. "Happy your highness?" He asked his lover.

Rei nodded and rested his head against Kai's chest. "Very."

Kai smiled down at the bundle of Rei in his arms and started for the stairs, Kenny and Lee walking beside him. Kevin was currently pestering Lee to carry him, but Lee continually refused.

That is, until Kevin pulled the kitty eyes, a trick learnt off both Rei and Mariah.

The lion didn't stand a chance.

Kevin smiled happily from his place in Lee's arms. He could already feel the sweet sweet sleepiness of sleep beginning to take him over.

Lee continued to lumber up the steps. It only occurred to him as he pushed his way backwards into his and Kevin's shared room that Tala and Bryan had nowhere to stay. Not after… Not after what had happened.

_------_

"Not happening." Kai said flatly, ignoring the puppy dog look Tala was giving him. "You are _not_ sleeping in here with Rei and I."

"C'mon Kai! Please? We won't be loud, or watch you and Rei going at it like wild bunnies, I swear!"

Bryan grunted next to him. "Tala, it's about 5 in the morning. We wont be loud, because we wont be doing anything."

"That's not why you're not coming in here." Kai said as he began to shepard the overtly together couple out of the room. "Find another room. _Now_. This room only has two single beds. You and Bryan can't share one of those without some interesting noises happening no matter what either of you say. And I am _not_ sharing a bed with Tala. No way. No how."

Tala pouted. "Please, Kai? Plleeeeaaaasssseeeee?"

Rei appeared at the door behind Kai. "Kai, just let them. If they start to do anything then Tala can sleep on the floor." He wavered on his feet slightly, then turned and went back to bed.

Kai didn't look happy but he turned to the two other Russians.

"You've heard the rules, now get to bed."

Tala smirked and pulled Bryan into the room. "Score! Saved by the Kitten!"

"You call me that again and sleeping on the floor will be the least of your problems." Rei said grumpily as he fell into the bed closest to the door.

Kai followed Rei's example and slipped in beside the neko-jin. "Night." He said sleepily.

"Morning." Rei replied before he began to sleep a deep and dreamless sleep.

* * *

Please Tell us What you think!


	10. Chapter 10

**Animeobsession: **YO EVERYBODY/ducks as things are thrown/ Aiiiiiiiiiieeeee/ducks behind desk/

**PandaPjays: **/swaggers out from hiding place- then relizes that might come to bodily harm/... /hides with animeo/

**Animeobsession: **We're sorry for the horendously long wait! Especially when we said you wouldn't have to wait ever again!

**PandaPjays: **Can we blame life? I blame life. Senior school suck monkeys genitallia. Assignments are the evil

**Animeobsession: **Oh yes. Those 'assignments'. They are ont made to be marked. they are made to bring us pain. Crap I have 4 major artworks due in 3 weeks! Double crap!

**PandaPjays: **/puts up hand/ Biology. NINE pages of discussion. NO diagrams. NINE pages of PURE CRAP

**Animeobsession: **dude that's like, 70 times worse then what i have! But you ARE a grade above me. I have a web page, a listehing assesment, geography report, science test, yearlys soon, PE assesment, PD assesment AHHHHHHHH

**PandaPjays: **oh! And Exam weeks next week!

**Animeobsession: **And then the School Certificate/cries/

**PandaPjays: **Ok. Now that that's over and done with. Forgive us? Still Love us?

**Animeobsession: **Look at what we've have to/have had to deal with/ pulls puppy eyes/

**PandaPjays: **Plus, there's the fact that we've come BACK. We haven't abandoned you guys. I think that counts for some brownie points, no?

**Animeobsession:** Okies, so, bringing the A/N of chapter 10 to a close, I say enjoy! And may the wait have been worth it!

* * *

"PHALLIC IMAGERY!"

"WHAT THE HELL!"

"TALA, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, SHUT UP!"

Rei opened his eyes with a start, looking about the room in confusion before noticing the redhead curled up next to him.

"Rei-Rei! Kai tried to kill me!"

Rei blinked sleepily. "Eh?" He asked intelligently, looking around the room to figure out why he was there and how Tala came to be attached to his arm. Rei looked over at Kai who was holding a pillow menacingly, glaring at Tala. "Eh?" Rei asked again, looking between the Russians.

"Tala saw the candle stick over _there_," Kai spat, pointing at a lone candle stick on one of the shelves, "And decided to give us an early wake up call." Kai's glare intensified.

Tala whimpered and clung to Rei. "Don't let him kill me, please. Please?"

Rei, still half asleep, looked down at the frightened redhead. "Where's Bryan? Shouldn't- /yawn/- you be hiding behind him?"

Tala extended one trembling figure to point at a lump in the bed that he'd abandoned. "Bry doesn't wake up that easily." He told Rei. "He'll roll out of bed in like half an hour."

Rei blinked. "Ok." He said slowly as he looked at the murderous intent in Kai's eyes. "Can we work this out without someone being thrown out a window?" He asked, trying to keep his voice steady and not to yawn. "Because we're pretty high up and I don't think Bryan would appreciate picking up Tala pieces, do you Kai?" He asked, pointedly looking at the bluenette.

"Do you think I _care_ what Bryan would appreciate?" He asked venomously.

Rei cocked his head to the side in thought.

"No, not really." He smiled sweetly at Kai, and then lay back down, curling up around the bundle of warmth that was Tala and dozing off.

The two awakened Russians blinked in confusion.

"Eh?" Kai asked, looking at Tala.

The redhead shrugged and snuggled back into Rei. Who was he to refuse the neko-jin after all?

Kai rolled his eyes.

"Jealous?" Tala asked, smirking.

Kai huffed angrily. "No. Just annoyed because you're practically using Rei as a human shield."

Tala grinned. "And I wasn't before?"

Kai growled and sat down next to Bryan.

Bryan, for his part, rolled over and continued to sleep. According to Tala's calculations he had 25 or so minutes to go before he could even think about waking up.

Kai looked down at Bryan and raised an eyebrow. "You really weren't kidding." He told Tala.

"Why would I?" Tala asked, confused. "It's Bry's sleeping patterns we're talking about here. Not Top secret government information."

"Isn't it one in the same?"

"In some cases yes. In this case no."

"But shouldn't the government be counting down till he wakes up? I mean he's like a lethal bomb sometimes."

Tala grinned wickedly. "Oh he IS a bomb. A very nice bomb."

Kai raised an eyebrow. "Do I want to know?"

"Probably not."

Kai sighed. "How do you think Ollie's going?" He asked the redhead, changing tack.

"How would you be going if you didn't have _eyes_ anymore, Kai?" Tala asked, raising an eyebrow. "My guess is not that good."

"I vote that we leave. It's not that much of a house warming party anymore, is it?"

"Hm… Maybe." Tala said musingly.

"Maybe?"

"Yeah, maybe. Rei needs to stay here for the week, remember? Maybe this was just a one-off thing. Perhaps if we don't go anywhere alone, the rest of the stay will be fine? And..."

"And...?" Kai asked, somewhat dreading the answer.

"And, me and Bry haven't desecrated every room in this house yet! We still have 90 of them to go!" Tala grinned happily and sighed, thinking of the future.

Kai rolled his eyes. "You're one sick little man." He told Tala, rolling Bryan over and lying next to the lavender haired teen. "I just have a really bad feeling. First there was Tyson and now Ollie."

"Tyson had a minor psychotic episode when he thought socks were trying to kill him, remember?" Tala reminded him. "I doubt they were connected in any way. Don't worry, we'll see if we can get Ollie to a hospital today and it'll be ok."

"If you're sure."

Tala smiled over at Kai from his position as Rei's hot water bottle. "You're worried for everyone aren't you Kai?"

Kai snorted. "Me? Worried? For everyone? No I just want to know that Rei is safe. And this is no doubt going to raise a scandal, I don't want to make it worse."

"Sure you do Kai. The fact that you want Rei to be safe is making me feel mushy inside, but seriously," Tala's smile faded as he became serious. "You are worried."

Kai sighed and brushed a bang of hair from his face. "Maybe just a little bit" He conceded, looking over at Tala and, by consequence, Rei. "Can you blame me?" He asked.

Tala gave his friend a tight smile. "Why would I?" He asked. "I'm a bit worried too. Not about my team, they all probably could have survived Chernobyl, but what about everyone else?"

"Do we sound just a little paranoid?"

"Try a lot."

"Ok then."

Tala felt his arm starting to go numb, so he poked at Rei's side in an attempt to get him up.

"C'mon kitty. You're hurting my arm. Time to get up and hunt mice and-" Tala was stopped in his little rant as Rei's hand came up and bobbed him on the head.

"Let's get one thing straight. I. Don't. Hunt. Mice. Got it?"

"Could you run that by me again, Mouser?" Tala asked, grinning up at Rei.

Rei glared down at the redhead and bapped him again, harder. "Want to try that again?" He asked, cheerfully.

"Me and my headache are going over to _that_ side of the room." Tala said, pointing to the corner furthest from Rei.

"Good idea."

Tala rolled off the bed and hit the floor with a loud THUMP and a quiet "Oww" before crawling away from Rei and over to the corner.

Unfortunately, the candles were in plain view.

"PHALLIC IMAGERY!"

Kai blinked before rolling his eyes and moving over to the door, opening it and looking at Rei. "After you?"

Rei smiled and walked over to where Kai was. "You're so kind." He said in as posh a voice as he could manage, the effect was spoiled by the childish grin that spilt his face a second afterwards. "Do you think someone's made pancakes?" He asked Kai, gesturing towards the kitchen and walking out into the hallway.

"Hope so." Kai said agreeably, walking into the hallway behind Rei and shutting the door on Tala and his phallic images.

It was quiet in the house, which was unusual. Even Robert and Johnny were silent. It was almost eerie. Outside, sunlight was creeping across Russia. Rei stopped at a window and looked out, captivated by the beauty of nature.

Kai, after realising his boyfriend wasn't walking stopped and turned to look at the static neko-jin.

After a moment, Rei spoke. "It's strange isn't it? That even after something so horrible has happened, it can still be so beautiful and pristine outside. Inside there is turmoil, but outside nothing has changed."

Kai shrugged nonchalantly. "That's how it normally is." He told the neko-jin quietly, moving to stand beside him. "It's like the world is laughing at us and saying that we don't really matter anyway."

Rei made a face. "That's rather cynical." He told Kai, continuing to look out on to the landscape.

Kai gave a mirthless chuckle. "That's reality."

"I suppose."

They stood there for a time, seconds, minutes, they didn't know which, then slowly, hesitantly, Rei tore his eyes from the beauty of outside, to Kai, his beauty on the inside.

"Shall we go get breakfast then?" He gave Kai a small smile. "If I keep on this train of thought I'll end up depressed and a depressed kitty isn't a nice kitty."

"I thought you were telling Tala you weren't a kitty." Kai said mildly, turning toward the stairs that led down to the kitchen. "Or something along those lines."

"You take when I tell to a crazed redhead high on phallic imagery as law?" Rei asked in amusement, walking past Kai and down on to the first step, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling he got, knowing that Tyson had fallen down these stairs only yesterday.

"So you are a kitty?"

"NO!"

"So you're not a kitty…"

"Well, I am. Sort of. Maybe half. Or less-"

"Rei-Rei?"

Rei pulled his finger away from where it had been resting on his chin. "Yes?"

"Stop now before you fry your brain." Kai said, raising an eyebrow at his raven-haired love.

"Um…" Rei said, as they descended down, still trying to work out his 'kitty' status. He blinked as he was engulfed in smoke. "Eh?" He asked, walking into the kitchen.

"Emily's trying to cook." Michael told the newcomers, waving the smoke away from them and covering his own mouth.

"What are you doing then?" Rei asked, his eyes narrowing to stop the smoke from hurting them.

"What does it look like?" Michael asked irritably. "Supervising."

"You're not doing a very good job, obviously." Kai said, waving away some of the smoke.

"Shaddup."

Rei giggled and walked over to where Emily was poking at what could have once been either pancakes or a rodent. "Need help?"

"No." Emily said firmly, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose in annoyance. She poked the blackened thing with a spatula. "I think it's dead now."

She pushed it out of the way and poured some more slop into a pan, jumping away from the oven as it began to sizzle and spit. "Is it meant to be doing that?" She asked Michael.

"Um… yes?"

"You have no clue do you."

"Um... if I said 'no', how would you take it?"

Emily crossed her arms. "You're the SUPERVISOR and you don't KNOW!"

"Hey! It's not my fault I swear!"

"Really? Whose fault is it then?"

"Um... TALA! It's Tala's fault." Michael nodded sagely. "When in doubt blame Tala."

"What am I being blamed for?"

"Everything." Kai told Tala, turning around and squinting at the vaguely Tala-shaped silhouette in the smoke.

"Oh. Well that's alright then." Tala said flippantly, waving the smoke out of his face.

"I thought you were going to wait for Bryan?" Kai asked.

"Every now and again I need 'Tala-time'"

"…So you spend your time with people anyway?"

"Um…"

Rei shook his head at the two and wandered over to the stove, fiddling with the knobs and taking the batter mixture off of Emily at the same time.

"Can you guys try and air this place out a bit? I'm gonna finish off these pancakes."

Emily moved off to open a window, Michael going after her. Kai went off to another window while Tala opened the one nearest the stove and draped himself over Rei.

Tala rested his head comfortably on Rei's shoulder, watching, fascinated as Rei tried to scrape the thing Emily had created off the bottom of the pan. "Did you put butter in there?" He asked, scratching at it fruitless with his spatula.

"Butter?" Emily asked in complete cluelessness. "Why on earth would I put butter in there? It'd burn and then the kitchen will stink."

"And this is the kitchen smelling summer fresh." Rei muttered darkly to himself with Tala the only one who could hear him. The redhead suppressed a giggle by burying his face in Rei's shoulder.

Kai opened another window and then turned back to the others.

"Butter is important because...TALA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"

Tala's head snapped up and he turned to look over his shoulder at Kai.

"I'm trying to stay warm, idiot." He said in a matter-of-fact voice. "We just finished up opening all of the windows on a _winter morning in Russia_" He sighed and rolled his eyes at Kai before burying his head in Rei's shoulder again.

Kai bit his lip, trying to suppress the immediate kill Tala chant that began to scream through his head. That, along with the weaker 'Must not be possessive' thoughts.

"Well do you have to use Rei?"

"Hmmm." Tala tapped his chin in thought. "I guess not." He let go of Rei and walked over to Michael.

Michael put his hands up. "NO! Nononononononononono! You're NOT using me as your heater!"

Tala pouted and walked back over to Rei, once again draping himself over the raven-haired neko-jin.

"Sorry Kai. Rei is gonna have to be my heater until Bry-Bry gets up."

Kai's eyebrow twitched comically before he cursed under his breath and walked out of the room into the dining hall.

Tala smirked into Rei's shoulder before propping his chin on it. "I think I made him cranky."

"Think?" Rei asked mildly, taking another pancake out of the pan and putting it on to a plate. He poured more batter into the pan and sighed. "Do you think he's going to break something?"

"Perhaps. You never can tell with Kai. But I doubt he would. After all," Tala licked at Rei's ear, "it's _YOUR_ house. And Kai would never do anything that could hurt the feelings of his precious."

Rei tried to ignore the flaming redhead that was now nibbling his ear and raised an eyebrow. "You make him sound like Gollum. And I'm not the ring."

"You do have one though."

Rei blushed hotly. "How did you know about that?" He asked, turning his head so he could see Tala who had ceased his attack on the neko-jin's ear.

Tala frowned, confused, pointing to Rei's hand where a small gold band was firmly around his pinkie. "Right the- OH!" He smirked and rubbed his cheek against Rei's "Does that mean you have _another_ one?"

"Of _course_ I do. _Everyone_ does. Even you, although yours may be slightly broken from what I hear at night."

"HEY! Me and Bry-Bry didn't do anything last night!" Tala started licking at Rei neck.

"That's because me and Kai were in there. And if we weren't you would have-Tala! Do you mind?"

"Not at all." Tala said, smirking before letting out a high-pitched squeak.

Rei's eyes widened as he felt Tala's weight lifted off his back "Eh?"

"BRYannnnnnnnn!" Tala said petulantly from his position in the lavender haired Russian's arms. "What are you doing?"

"Saving Rei from being raped." He said calmly, slinging the redhead over his shoulder and beginning to walk away.

"…You know… Your arse looks cute from this vantage point."

"I can't believe you just used cute in a sentence describing me."

"I do mean cute in the manliest fashion."

Bryan snorted and swatted at the red heads rump, causing him to give out a light shriek.

Rei giggled a little, before going back to his oh-so-nice-smelling pancakes.

_------_

Enrique stirred, moaning softly as he was brought out of his sleep by the light streaming through the window.

"Enri?"

Enrique sat up quickly, remembering what had happened the night before. He looked at Oliver, reacquainting himself with the horror of what had happened.

"Enri?" Oliver asked again, a note of panic in his voice. He could feel someone moving on the bed.

"It's ok Ollie. It's ok, I'm right here."

Enrique crawled over the surprisingly large bed, taking one of Oliver's hands into his own and running his thumb over the back of it affectionately. "I'm here."

"Enri... I thought it was a nightmare... I thought it would be gone when I woke up. It..It's not gone!"

"I know." Enrique said sadly, squeezing Oliver's hand gently. "Did you get much sleep?"

Oliver shook his head. "I woke up a while ago. It hurt too much to sleep." He raised the hand Enrique wasn't holding to touch the bandage covering his eyes- or what was left of them. "Enri?" He asked again.

"Mm?"

"Stay here?"

Enrique smiled gently, even though Oliver couldn't see it, and nodded. "Of course. Why would I leave you?"

"Because you're hungry?"

"I'm not hungry." Enrique's stomach growled loudly.

Oliver smiled despite everything. "Nice."

"I'm not hungry!" Enrique said again, glaring down at his traitor stomach. "What you heard was only because of your newly-enhanced senses!"

"That's crap and you know it." Oliver said flatly. "I can hear the same as I could yesterday."

"…No Sonar?"

"I'm not Ben Affleck."

"No raydar?"

"Nope."

"No gaydar?"

"No- I had one of them BEFORE this mon ami."

"You did?"

Oliver nodded, smiling. This wasn't too bad. He could almost pretend that he just had his eyes closed. "Who do you think told Johnny to get over himself and take Robert out on a date?"

"That was _you_? It's _you_ that we have to blame for not getting a proper nights sleep every time they're within the same neighbourhood?"

"Er…yeah…"

Enrique frowned a little, and then burst out laughing.

"Damn you Ollie! Damn you! Because of you I have had no beauty sleep!"

Oliver smiled, and then it faded. "I can't tell. Can't really see much of a difference. Can't see anything."

Enrique suddenly felt bad. "I'm sor-"

"It's not your fault. It WASN'T your fault. Now," Oliver smiled gently, "How about we go get some breakfast, eh?"

Enrique smiled gratefully, glad for a change of subject. "How about I go and scavenge and we have breakfast in bed?"

"But-" Oliver started to protest but was stopped by one of Enrique's fingers on his lips.

"I'm not going far." He promised. "And I _refuse_ to let you move."

"So I don't have any choice?" Oliver asked, pouting.

"How often do you get breakfast in bed?"

Oliver shook his head.

"Enri, you're rich. I'm rich. We both get breakfast in bed quite often."

"Do we?"

"We do."

"We do?"

"We've covered this."

"…Oh…" Enrique searched around for another reason. "Ok then… how often do _I_ serve you breakfast in bed?"

Oliver sighed. "Alright. I give. Just don't be too long, ok? I don't want to be alone."

Enrique smiled softly at the French lad. "I'll be as quick as I can. Heck, maybe there'll be someone outside that can stay with you!"

Oliver shook his head. "No. It's ok. I don't think anyone but wants to spend any time with me at the moment." He attempted a smile. "But that's ok. I wouldn't want to spend time with me either."

Enrique reached out to grab Oliver's hand. "I don't know why no one would want to spend time with you." He said sincerely. On impulse, he leant forward and brushed his lips gently against Oliver's for a brief second.

He pulled back; glad that Oliver couldn't see how bright his face had gone. "I'll… go and get breakfast." He said before racing out of the room.

_------_

"PHALLIC IMAGERY!"

And so, Kevin was startled into consciousness. Beside him, Lee snorted and clung tighter to the smaller boy.

Kevin smiled and brushed his hands through Lee's hair before moving out of his embrace and over to the door to see what was happening, even if he probably really didn't want to know. He opened the door gently and, yawning slightly, looked out into the hall…

To see Bryan.

Carrying Tala over his shoulder.

Who was pointing at a candlestick with wide eyes and a wider grin covering his face.

Kevin stared at the unlikely scene with his mouth hanging open. He didn't think that Tala could get any stranger. He was very _very_ wrong. "Phallic…?"

Tala looked up at the sound Kevin made and cackled before a goal-oriented Bryan carried him into Kai and Rei's room.

Kevin shook his head. "Strange strange people."

His nose twitched as he picked up a smell coming from down the hall and he grinned, before spinning around and slinking back into the room, closing the door behind him.

He stalked over to the bed, bending his knees, looking like a tiger cub about to pounce. Then he pounced. On Lee.

"Ah! What the f-!"

Kevin grinned devilishly. "It's breakfast time! Up!"

Lee blinked before groaning and rolling over to bury his head in his pillow. "Not. Happening." He decided, verbalizing his thoughts so Kevin would take the hint.

Sadly, Kevin couldn't see a hint if it was doing a samba with a Triceratops in front of him.

So, he resorted to poking Lee, hard, in the side.

Lee just grunted and swatted at him.

So, he poked again.

Lee growled this time and shuffled away a bit, but returned to dozing.

Kevin scowled. "Oh, that's it!"

The green-haired boy reached for Lee's ear and pinched it hard on the slightly point tip. He pulled it gently and leant down so his mouth was right next to it.

"BLARGH! MONKEY NOISE MONKEY NOISE PSHTE SHWA PHALLIC IMAGERY MONKEY NOISE!"

Lee started and let out a harsh yell, flailing wildly and knocking Kevin, who was laughing uncontrollably, off the bed.

"OWW!"

"What did ya do that for, ya brain dead monkey!" Lee growled at Kevin, clutching his ear and whimpering at the damage his eardrums had been forced to go through.

"You wouldn't get up!"

Lee shook his head, trying to get some sort of hearing back. Anything apart from the annoying ringing that was currently plaguing him. "There's a word for people like you."

"And that is?"

"ASS. You're an ASS"

Kevin blinked innocently. "I'm not a donkey. And I have a nice ass, thank you very much."

Lee groaned and pinched at the bridge of his nose. He pulled himself off the bed and grabbed some clothes before walking off into a joining bathroom.

Kevin shook his head, grinning. Lee wasn't a morning person.

He ventured out once again, forgetting one very important fact.

"ERGH! KEVIN PUT ON SOME CLOTHES"

_------_

_Meanwhile, In Kai and Rei's room..._

"BRYA-"

_Uh, I mean. Meanwhile, in the evil pink one's room..._

SNOOOOOOOOORE

_Uh, crap, I mean. Meanwhile, in the kitchen._

Rei looked up as Enrique walked into the room. "Pancakes?" He asked, gesturing towards the growing stack next to the fry pan he was using. "You get first pick."

Enrique smiled gratefully at Rei. "Thanks." He said, searching through the numerous cupboards in the kitchen until he found two plates. "Your uncle definitely had everything organized- did he like to entertain?"

Rei shrugged. "I don't know. He seemed very solitary though…"

Enrique raised an eyebrow as he shift some pancakes onto one plate, then the other.

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, the 4 inches of dust on most surfaces, where people usually would be. The kitchen was clean, and 1 or 2 bedrooms, but apart from that it's filthy. The spiders, although I'm sure you know all abut that." Rei said, chuckling lightly.

Enrique blushed. "It was a big one, ok?"

"Sure it was." Rei said lightly. "There's maple syrup in the pantry. I haven't gotten around to cleaning it yet so it could be a little manky."

Enrique opened the cupboard gingerly and coughed as a cloud of dust floomed out at him. He picked out the maple syrup. It was basically dust free because Rei had touched it when he was searching the kitchen for supplies.

"So… How's Ollie?" Rei asked, half-afraid to know the answer.

Enrique froze for a minute, and then continued to open the maple syrup bottle. "He's upset, as anyone would be. He said... before I left... that he didn't think anyone would want to hang around him. He said that _he_ wouldn't want to hang around him."

He lifted the bottle to his nose and sniffed gingerly. Satisfied that it was ok, he poured some on his pancakes and poured some into a small cup because he didn't know how much the French teen would want.

Rei nodded slowly, flipping another pancake. "I wish there was something we could do." He looked out the window at the deep snow surrounding the house. "As soon as the roads get cleared we'll get real medical help, ok?"

"I don't know…" Enrique said uncertainly. "Ollie doesn't like hospitals. I think he'd be more comfortable here."

Rei sighed. "I can understand that, but he needs medical attention. Hmmmm."

"Could we, perhaps, get a doctor out here? Call for one to come? That way, Ollie could get medical attention _without_ going to a hospital."

Rei hummed thoughtfully. "When the roads are cleared, we'll call one." He smiled softly at the Italian lad.

Enrique smiled and nodded. "I think that'd be a great idea." He finished gathering everything he needed and looked away from Rei up towards the room he and Ollie were now sharing. "I should probably get back…" He said, hinting at Rei.

Rei nodded and put another hot pancake on his pile. "Tell Ollie we're thinking of him."

Enrique grinned. "Will do."

_Meanwhile, in the dining room._

Kai scowled as he put another plate on the long table in the dining room. "Why do _I_ have to lay the table? Cant they make someone else do it?"

Michael, who was setting out the cutlery, chuckled at Kai's grumbles. "I feel for you man."

"You have _no_ idea."

"Eh?"

"This morning has not been my morning."

"Tala?"

"Tala."

The American sighed. "Once again, I feel for you man."

Kai smirked and continued his job. Rei's head popped into the room.

"Guys? Oliver and Enrique aren't eating with us, so don't set the table for them."

"Aren't eating with us, ay? What are those two getting up to?" Michael wagged his eyebrows suggestively.

"Not what you're thinking, pervert." Rei said dryly, going back into the kitchen.

"Ass." Kai said flatly, finishing setting out his cutlery. "Have you completely forgotten last night?"

The American looked down, abashed. "Sorry."

"I'm not you should be saying that to, ass."

"Since when do you care about what I say to other people? Since when do you _care_ about what I say?"

"Since you say them to Rei, _Ass_"

"STOP CALLING ME AN ASS!"

"Who's ass are we talking about?"

The boys turned their heads towards the door as Kevin wandered in, Lee trailing behind him, yawning are running a hand through his mane of hair.

Michael scoffed. "Kai's obsessed with my ass."

"Not your ass. Someone else's ass."

"Yes and we all wonder who THAT could be." Kevin said, rolling his eyes.

Lee swaggered over to the table, pulled out a chair and flopped down onto it, resting his face on the tabletop.

Kai looked blankly at Lee before mentally shrugging, this was one of the things he didn't want to know.

Miguel and Mathilda soon followed, the latter basically fast asleep on Miguel's shoulder. Yet, she was walking. It was a feat of physics.

"Hey." Miguel said cheerfully, finding seats at the table for himself and Mathilda. He carefully slid her off his shoulder and settled her into the comfortable seat.

"Morning!" Kevin said cheerfully. He had taken a seat next to Lee and was happily poking at the snoozing lion.

Aaron and Eddie entered next, talking about basketball versus Beyblading by the sounds of things.

"Dude! The spin's where it's _at_"

"Like I don't already know that, but it's spinning a ball that's sweet"

"Duuude!"

It was a very intelligent conversation. Kai was pretty sure he could tune out safely. "I'm going into the kitchen." He told the room at large before disappearing into the adjacent room.

Unfazed by Kai's departure, Michael joined in on Eddie and Aaron's conversation with a communal 'Duuuude'

Matilda and Lee continued to snooze on the table, while Miguel and Kevin started chatting easily about nothing.

At some point, Claude had appeared, followed by Gary, and eventually Kenny, who took a seat before placing Dizzy on the table and opening her up.

"Hey Chief, that movie's finished downloading! Should be a good one, since we got it off one of the top 10 sites!"

The room fell into silence...

"DUDE LET ME SEE!"

Michael practically leaped off the table to get behind Kenny. He watched what was on-screen with nothing short of awe. "Duuuuuuuuuuuuude."

"What is it?" The male population bar Lee asked as one. Within seconds they were all behind Kenny, each trying to get a glimpse of the screen.

"What is _that_?"

"I don't kn-Ooh!"

"Is that even humanly possible?"

"Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude"

Suddenly, the doors flew open (read: one door opened slightly) and an evil presence entered the room (read: strong perfume wafted into the room). Into the room strode the pink menace (read: Mariah). The boys fell back, screaming in terror and fear (read: they cringed gently, barring Lee, who snorted in his sleep).

One person in the crowd offered a weak 'Dude?' before being elbowed by his neighbour.

Mariah's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What are you guys looking at?" She asked.

Kenny bit his lip, though it was impossible to say if he looked away.

Mathilda yawned and stretched in her seat, resurfacing to the land of the living. She looked at the crowd of guys behind the computer and raised an eyebrow. "Porn." She said, uninterested.

Mariah's eyes widened. "WHAT!"

The shout was so loud it woke up Lee and sent him tumbling from his chair to the floor. He went unnoticed.

"HOE CAN YOU DO SUCH A DISGUSTING THING! YOU BOYS ARE ALL GROSS! Not like my Rei-Rei.." Mariah clasped her hands together and sighed dreamily.

"Uh, sorry to burst your bubble but, Rei kinda...bats for the other-"

"NO!"

"Are you suggesting I like looking at porn?" Kai asked mildly as he walked back into the dining room with two plates of pancakes. He placed them on the table and pointed to Kevin. "You, go round everyone except Ollie and Enri up."

"What? Why _me_?"

"Because I think you're annoying. _Leave_" Kai turned back to Mariah and raised an eyebrow. "Well?"

Mariah glared at him. "I hate you. So much."

Kai raised an eyebrow. "Love you too, darlin. Why don't you go with the monkey and help get everyone together. You're precious Rei can get food out faster that way. In fact," Kai smirked, "you can go get Tala and Bryan."

"_Ass_"

"I always knew you secretly admired it."

Mariah made a face and left the room huffily.

One person in the crowd began clapping and was quickly joined by others and a chorus of 'Dudes'.

Kai rolled his eyes and gestured to the plates of pancakes. "They're getting cold."

It didn't take long after that for the assembled group so start attacking the plate that lay before them, nearly finishing them off, leaving a few left, but not enough for those remaining in the house.

Kai sighed and walked back to the kitchen. "Rei, we need more pancakes out here. They're goin pretty fast."

Rei smiled and handed the Russian another stacked plate. "Take this out."

Kai took the plate without complaint and turned toward the dining room again. He looked over his shoulder at Rei. "Make sure you eat something, ok? Don't just make it."

Rei smiled genuinely. "You too."

_------_

Enrique hummed softly to himself as he approached Ollie's and his shared room, balancing the pancakes precariously.

A door opened on his way up and Bryan tumbled out, followed by a cheerful Tala. He grinned at the two; they'd obviously been busy.

"Morning guys!" Tala turned to look at Enrique, a wide grin crossing his face as he noticed the plates of food.

"Mornin! Those delicious looking plates of food, wouldn't happen to be for us, the two beautiful, gorgeous, flamboyant ("Just you" Bryan murmured) gay Russian buddies that lent you their room, would it?"

"No, these are mine and Ollie's. Go find your own, ya scavenger."

Tala pouted the shrugged. "Whatever." He turned to Bryan and beckoned him forward. "Let us go and mingle with the commoners!" He said, strutting off to get his rightful offering of pancakes."

Enrique shook his head, smiling. "Strange, strange people."

He reached the door of their room and turned, pushing it open with his back. "Hey, Ollie! Rei made us pancakes!"

Silence.

"Ollie?" Enrique walked further into the room, towards the window, turning his head from side to side as he went.

"Ollie?" He noticed something in his peripheral vision and turned. "There you are Ollie's I was sayi-"

CRASH!

Enrique dropped the plates in shock, staring at the bed with a look of pure horror on his face.

"OLLIE!"

Enrique ran to the bed where what had once been Oliver lay. He scanned what was left, his mouth moving in a silent scream.

Oliver lay, as he had died, his entire body stiff as a board. It looked as if all of the flesh had melted off his bones. His face had taken on the appearance of a skeleton; the only thing untouched on it was the bandage that had been used to cover his eyes.

Enrique put a hand over his mouth at the stench he hadn't noticed until then reached his nostrils. He dry-retched as he noticed movement from underneath Oliver's bandage crawled a large black beetle that had presumably made it's home in one of the Frenchman's eye sockets.

Enrique's eyes travelled across the emancipated corpse that had once been his crush. A small whimper escaped his throat as he noticed that where Oliver's pyjama top had ridden up was no longer a plane of smooth stomach, instead a moving mass of insects.

He retched again, stumbling back from the corpse and falling to his knees, throwing up on the floor. He heard a noise and looked up to the wall above the bed. It had darkened, shadows leaking together to form a dark mass, which trembled, before two golden eyes opened.

Enrique's mouth opened in a silent scream. He stood quickly and started moving backwards. He turned around to run. Only to meet air. When did the window open?

Enrique didn't have time to scream as he fell, hitting the ground with bone-shattering force, the snow like ice. He lay on the ground staring up at the sky, his mouth moving in disbelief as the life seeped from his body, staining the snow red.

Snow began to fall again from the sky, covering the land once again with purifying white.

_------_

Enrique and Oliver looked out the window of their shared room dispassionately as the snow began to fall on Enrique's broken body.

They turned to look at the corpse on the bed, viewing it with nothing more than a passing interest.

Enrique searched for a bandage to place over the standing Oliver's eyes. They had been careless with Oliver.

Enrique's eyes flashed with an inner fire. That wouldn't happen again.

* * *

Please tell us what you think 


	11. Chapter 11

**Animeobsession:** - peaks out from behind a wall - Hello?

**PandaPjays** -stays firmly behind the wall-

**Animeobsession:** - ducks back behind the wall to avoid flying weaponry - GAH! Don't hurt us! We've updated haven't we?!?

**PandaPjays** ...Just? We've learned from this experience that we don't commit to even abstract time periods like 'soon

**Animeobsession:** Yes, 'soon' for us is...shall we say...a little different than it is for other people. Just a little.

**PandaPjays** but! We have an almost-semi-still-working-on-it system! That may (Or may not- keeping our options open) help us to update sometime that's not every 6 months or so

**Animeobsession:** It's a wonderful system, because we don't always get on at the right time. Or one of us (generally me) has to go to bed because she needs to get back into a normal sleeping pattern.

**PandaPjays** I still think that sleep is for the weak. That is, unless -I- am the one who is tired, then it is high priority.

**Animeobsession:** Only you. - sighs in an overly dramatic way - It's also been difficult to write this for me, because Kingdom Hearts and Transformers now own my soul. And so we'll be writing, and 5 minutes later I'm fangirling about RiSo, or AkuRoku...or SamxBee O.o

**PandaPjays** I'm, personally still all about the Bey. But pining for More JohnnyRei. Which saddens me

**Animeobsession:** I drew you stick figure JoRe...WE'RE GETTING OFF TOPIC AND IT'S MY FAULT AGAIN!!

**PandaPjays** Yes, yes it is. XD But that's ok! We attempted semi-lime in this chapter but chickened out because I was at my Aunt's place with the risk of people reading over my shoulder

**Animeobsession:** But the rest of the chapter should make up for it...hopefully...cos it's awesome...at least I thought it was...

**PandaPjays** As did I -nods sagely- Well I think that we shall leave you to enjoy!

Oh! P.S. We will be replying to your review from last chapter ASAP. Promise.

* * *

Rei stared out the kitchen window, absent-mindedly eating his pancakes. "At this rate we're never going to get Ollie a doctor." He told the only other occupant of the room.

Kai gave a non-committal grunt as he continued doing the dishes. He wasn't quite sure how he'd been roped into doing everyone's dishes. But, it had happened. Kai looked hopelessly at the pile of dirty plates. At least this gave him some alone time with Rei.

He winced as the pile of plates began to tilt, inexorably heading towards a spectacular crash. Not exactly the alone time he had imagined spending with Rei…

Rei continued to look blankly out the window, his fork slowly moving from his plate to his mouth.

Kai quickly finished cleaning his current plate and put it in the drying rack, before steadying the tilting stack.

"Did you hear me?" Rei asked, looking over at Kai, with a smirk. He found it amusing that Kai had lost to Johnny in what the Scotsman had termed 'the ultimate deciding contest of the century' and what normal people termed 'flipping a coin.'

_Heads I win, Tails you lose._

Kai had chosen tails.

Kai had lost.

Johnny had rubbed it in, only for his...captain coughlovercough to drag him off, complaining about 'uncouthness'.

"Of course I heard you." Kai said, taking another plate off the now-steady pile. "But I can't change the weather. We just have to wait. We've done everything for Ollie that we can- the same as any doctor."

Rei nodded and stood, having finished his pancakes. He moved around the counter to find a dish cloth and began drying the dishes Kai had washed.

The stack of plates was tilting again- faster then Kai was washing- so Rei righted them.

"I hope we've done the right thing. I mean, what else could we have done?" he murmured gently.

Kai shook his head. "We couldn't have done anything else."

------

Enrique looked down at Oliver's corpse. "What are we going to do with it?" He asked the Oliver next to him.

The standing Oliver shrugged, his hands adjusting the bandage Enrique had tied over his eyes. "Throw it out," He suggested.

Enrique shrugged and picked up the few remains of the corpse, of which there only remained the bones and some flesh on one hand, and threw them out into the snow to land beside his fallen comrade. The remaining beetles scurried away to the dark parts of the room. Oliver smirked as some of the crawled across his bare feet, enjoying the sensation.

Enrique looked down at the corpses, "Ah, young love. So...utterly disgusting." He cracked his neck and walked over to Oliver.

The blonde guided Oliver to the bed and helped him to lie down, smirking as the last stray beetles fled from the sheets. "Young lust, however…." He said, pushing Oliver's bandage off his eyes so he could look into their fiery depths. "That I can deal with."

Oliver smirked, moving his hands under Enrique's shirt and touching the hot skin, so like their true nature.

He continued to pull the shirt up and over Enrique's head; running his hands through his blond hair, eventually gripping it and pulling the blonds head down, locking their lips together in a searing hot kiss.

Enrique smirked into the kiss, allowing Oliver a brief moment of dominance. He pulled away from the green-haired boy with a mock-look of concern. "Are you sure about this?" He asked, imitating the person he had become.

Oliver smirked, amused with the blonde's antics. He ran his hands down Enrique's chest, touching as much skin as possible. "Are you?"

Enrique grinned. "Most definitely."

"You got your answer in one, love." He grinned, chuckling lightly, a wisp of smoke drifting out of him mouth. He moved his hands down to Enrique's belt and fiddled with the buckle, pausing so the blond could remove his shirt.

Enrique stared at Oliver's bare chest, lust burning in his gaze. He placed his hand firmly on the pale surface and forced Oliver to lie still and flat on the bed. He slowly ran his hand down the centre of Oliver's chest; stopping just centimetres shy of the waistband of the Frenchman's pyjamas. Instead of continuing southwards, Enrique started drawing patterns on the plane of Oliver's stomach that dipped toward his nether regions before wandering back upwards.

The blonde smirked wickedly at the small sound of protest that evoked from Oliver.

"What's wrong, love?" Enrique said with a wicked grin, his hand dipping dangerously low.

"Please, love! Don't tease!" Oliver cried, his hands tangling in the blonds' hair.

Enrique slowly dragged a finger up his chest, swirling it around a nipple, never truly touching it.

"Why not?" He purred, rubbing his thumb over the hard nub of Oliver's nipple, making the Frenchman gasp. He leant down to breathe into Oliver's ear, making him shudder at the sensation. "I like watching you squirm." He whispered, breathing moist air into Oliver's ear while simultaneously pressing down hard on the captured nipple.

Before long, pants had gone missing, underwear discarded aimlessly onto the floor, only moans filling the air.

The fire hadn't been able to experience such pleasures of the flesh for a long time

------

"I have to get Rei to see the error of his ways!"

Mathilda stared at the ceiling of Mariah's room, wondering if the other girl would notice if she tried to smother herself.

"There has to be a way that I can make him see that Kai's an ass."

"Mariah, are you _sure_ you don't have a thing for Kai's ass?"

Mariah stuck her head into the room from the bathroom and glared at Mathilda. "How could you even THINK such a thing? You're supposed to be on _MY_ side Mati!!"

Mathilda sighed. "I am on your side." She intoned dutifully.

"Good."

"It's just that I think you might want to give this one up for lost."

"_WHAT_?"

"…Just a suggestion." Mathilda sighed and continued to stare at the ceiling. Mariah had dragged her into this room straight after breakfast with the promise of 'girl talk'

Mathilda had then proceeded to watch Mariah put on enough makeup to sink the Titanic and all the life boats while bitching about Kai and Rei.

"Can I go now?" She asked (Read: Pleaded) "I want to go find Miguel."

"Why? He's probably still looking at porn with everyone else."

"_Exactly_." Mathilda said adamantly. "I'm pretty sure that much porn isn't good for him."

Mariah rolled her eyes, a rather difficult feat when putting on eyeliner. "Lots of guys watch _way_ more than that."

"So? Migi doesn't. And he's _not_ going to start now."

"Too late for that, dear."

The girls heard a shout from down the hall.

"Who was that?" Mathilda said, sitting up.

"Probably just the red-head bastard and his gay freak boyfriend." Mariah spat out.

"It didn't sound like Tala, or Bryan."

"Whatever, it doesn't matter."

Mathilda yawned. "Besides, for someone in a house full of gay people you seem to be awfully homophobic."

Mariah shrugged, though Mathilda couldn't see her. "I couldn't care less, really. I just don't like _them_."

"Them… meaning?"

"_Them_"

"Who?"

"_**THEM**_! The red haired ass and-"

"Oh THEM!!! You could have just said Tala and Bryan, you know."

Mariah pouted. "You're female- you're meant to read my mind."

"No- I'm meant to read men's minds. You're allowed to remain a complete mystery to me."

"Aww phooey!" Mariah said angrily, glaring at Mathilda as if Rei's 'sudden' obsession with a cold hearted Russian was her fault. "Why are you so mean to me?"

Mathilda sighed, "I'm not mean to you. And I don't mean to SOUND mean, but could you hurry up? I wanna go see Miguel!"

"OH Shut up! Just because YOUR boyfriend hasn't been STOLEN by an angsty preteen." Mariah said sulkily

Mathilda bit her lip. "Umm... Kai's not exactly a pre-"

"SHUT UP!"

Frustrated, Mathilda growled at Mariah and pushed herself off the bed. "No, Mariah, YOU shut up! All you ever used to talk about was 'Rei this' and 'Rei that'. Now, not only do you do that, but you whinge about 'Kai this' and 'Tala that' and I'm starting to get SICK and TIRED of you're HOMOPHOBIC TENDENCIES!"

Mariah shrunk back against the wall. "But Mati! It's gross! And Rei was made for me-"

"BLOODY HELL MARIAH! REI WAS NOT CREATED FOR YOU! HE WAS CREATED FOR AN UNFATHOMABLE PURPOSE THAT PROBABLY INVOLVES MELTING AN ICE KING!!!"

Matilda took a deep breath. "You know what? I can't deal with you now. I'm going to find Miguel. Talk to me again when you've gotten over yourself."

Mariah watched as her best friend stormed out of the room and scowled. "Bitch." She muttered half to the door Mathilda had slammed and half to her own reflection in the mirror. "You Fucking Bitch!"

_------_

Miguel blinked as he suddenly found himself with an armful of Mathilda. "Um…?"

Mathilda shook against him. "Don't worry. I'll be fine. Just...just don't worry."

"Mati, are you crying?"

Miguel looked to Claude, who he'd been talking with before Mathilda barreled into him. Claude shrugged at him.

"I'll leave you two alone. See you later, alright?"

Miguel nodded his thanks to Claude and steered Mathilda off towards their room. Claude sighed at their retreating figures and walked towards the kitchen with the intent of finding himself some food.

"Avast Ye! Stand and Fight like the mangy cur that ye are!"

Claude blinked as he walked into view of Tala brandishing what looked like a fluro blue… Claude rubbed his eyes and looked again, convinced that the lack of sleep from the night before was affecting him.

"I said stand and fight! Or is the sight of me merciless dildo enough to strike fear into ye cowardly hearts!"

Yes. That WAS a fluro blue dildo. Claude shook his head in disbelief and looked at the other occupants of the room.

Rei was just barely standing courtesy of Kai holding him upright to face Tala who was still brandishing his… weapon.

"Where the hell did you get _that_?" Rei asked as he gasped for breath between fits of laughter.

Kai tried to set Rei upright and loosened his grip, causing Rei to fall down on the floor, still pissing himself laughing.

Kai shared a perplexed look with Bryan as Tala switched his focus from terrorizing Rei to Kai. "ARGH ME HEARTIES! Swash Swash Buckle Buckle." He all but yelled, accentuating each worth with a thrust of his… sword.

Snorting lightly, Claude turned away from the Pirate-Tala filled chaos, heading once again towards the kitchen. His stomach grumbled unhappily at him and Claude sighed, looking out of a window as he passed it to see the grounds around the manor, covered in a fine layer of snow.

Stopping momentarily, he turned and studied the image that he saw. Surrounding most of the manor's yard was a dense forest of trees, now dusted in snow like tall dark cakes dusted in sugar. But what caught his interest, was a small sign of life just before the trees began. A small black blob was curled in the snow, quivering lightly. Even as Claude looked at it, it uncurled, revealing itself to be a rabbit, and bounded into the forest.

Claude shook his head. _Weird. Very weird._ He decided as he entered the deserted kitchen. He blinked as he noticed the severe lack of people. He had been positive that he would find at least two vultures hanging around the kitchen in hopes of some poor soul fixing them food.

He smiled slightly at the mental image that thought provoked as he opened the cupboards and began to dig through them in search of sustenance.

"Hello? Help!" Claude quickly spun around, looking for the source of the voice.

"Hey, where are you?" Claude yelled. He heard a light _thunk_ noise coming from the dining room.

"...I'm not sure."

Claude quickly walked into the room and sighed as he spotted Oliver.

"Ollie? Shit, are you ok?"

The Frenchman paused in his actions to look around vainly for the voice. "I'm not sure." He said, reaching out to hold on to the nearest object for support, the chair at the head of the table. "Who is it?"

Claude quickly crossed the room and took hold of one of Oliver's arms. "It's Claude." He said in what he hoped was a reassuring tone of voice. "How the hell did you get down here? Your room's on the floor above us!"

Oliver shrugged, the movement causing the sleeve Claude was holding on to to ride up, allowing Claude's hand to touch the bare skin of his arm.

Claude snatched his hand away. "Jesus! Ollie, are you ok? You're burning up!"

Oliver smiled vacantly in Claude's general direction. "I'm fine. I recall walking past something warm earlier, perhaps a fireplace. I'm sure it's just heat from that."

Claude raised an eyebrow, before shaking his head. "Where's Enrique? I could swear he was watching over you. Almost like a hawk." Claude laughed a little, before looking to the ever silent Frenchmen.

"Enrique went to go get something for me from our room. But I don't think he found it because he didn't come back for a while. So I decided to go find him."

"And got lost yourself." Claude sighed. "Here, I'll help you get to your room. We might find Enrique on the way."

Ollie nodded and reached out for Claude's hand. "Thanks." He said simply.

Claude nodded, forgetting that Oliver couldn't see him and took the Frenchman's hand. "I just can't help but wonder how you managed to get down those stairs without killing yourself."

Oliver smiled vacantly. "Just lucky, I guess."

"Very lucky. I mean, Tyson fell down those stairs, and he could see- oh crap! I meant no disrespect!-"

"It's fine." Oliver said, smiling vacantly at Claude. "I'm going to have to live with...being blind now, so don't apologise. And Tyson fell down those stairs because he had little luck."

Claude raised an eyebrow. "But he's won a lot of beybattles."

"Dragoon has more luck than Tyson." Oliver joked, gripping Claude's hand a little tighter as they reached a staircase. "Can you move over to a banister? I'll need another grip here."

Claude quickly moved. "That better?" He asked.

Oliver bit his lip as he reached out for the banister. "You know, I wish this could be like Daredevil."

"Huh?"

"You didn't see that movie? I think it was based off a comic book but I never got to read it. It's about a blind guy but he can still see with some kind of sonar, or something."

"Sounds kind of cool. I should watch it, I haven't seen that many movies, wasn't allowed to."

Oliver took his first cautious step up. "Really? That fairly sucks." He said conversationally, before he tried for his second step.

"I know! Though I did get to see that Pirate Movie a little while ago. It didn't make much sense though…"

"Pirate Movie? You do know that it's a trilogy, right?"

"Seriously? I thought there might have been a back-story."

Oliver chuckled and shook his head. This proved to be a bad move, as he was attempting to take another step at the same time, slipping a little with a yelp before Claude steadied him.

"Easy there. Don't want you getting hurt. Well, more than you already are...I'll shut up now."

"It's ok. Stop tiptoeing around the subject. I've gotten used to this, you should too."

Claude sighed heavily anyway, assisting Oliver up to the top of the staircase, luckily without any other problems.

"So your old room?" Claude asked, scanning the corridor. "What have you left in there?"

"Both Enri and I left our everything in there. We weren't really thinking about things like clothes last night." Oliver said lightly as he allowed himself to be steered toward 'his' old room.

"Oh." Claude said shortly, an uncomfortable silence settling over the pair. "...Does it hurt?"

"It did at first." Oliver said shakily. "It hurt so badly, but now, now I just feel numb. Numb all over..." He said the last part more to himself than to Claude.

"Oh. I've never had to deal with anything THAT painful. I guess I'm lucky in that regard."

"As lucky as Dragoon?"

"Not quite that lucky."

They had nearly reached the room by this point, easily recognised by a small stain on the floor just in front of the door, from when Oliver had been moved from one room to another. It could also be smelled from a distance. It smelled like rusted metal, obviously from the blood in the room, but now, Claude noticed, it also seemed to smell...smoky. Almost like someone had burnt something earlier, although that may have just been Tala and Bryan. With what they were known to have, Claude wouldn't be surprised if Tala had brought candles and somehow burnt something. Probably something important. Like hundred year old curtains, for example. Poor Rei.

Claude wrinkled his nose at the smell. "Are you sure that Enri hasn't already gotten all your stuff?" He asked, semi-desperately. He didn't particularly want to enter the room. He, thankfully, hadn't seen it the night before but imagined it hadn't got better with age.

"Positive, he probably got distracted by watching Emily bend over... Or anyone bend over for that matter. It _is_ Enri." Oliver said with a rueful smile causing Claude to laugh nervously.

"True." Claude brought Oliver to a stop in from of the door and, steeling himself, tentatively reached for the handle.

At first touch, the handle was burning hot, and Claude had to quickly pull his hand away before he got burnt.

"What's wrong Claude?" Oliver asked, tilting his head slightly.

"The handle was hot. Really hot." Claude said, clutching his hand to his chest and glaring at the handle.

Oliver smiled directly at him, and, reaching out, grasped the handle and easily opened the door. Immediately after it opened, the smell of blood and smoke got worse, along with an underlying scent of decaying flesh. Claude immediately drew back from the door, but Oliver took a deep breath of the smell and wandered into the room.

"Claude? Come in, please, and help me find what I need."

Tentatively, Claude stepped over the threshold of the door, suddenly feeling both hot and cold at the same time. He shivered and observed the room. Blood covered much of the sheets of the bed, which lay messily on the bed. He also noted that the blankets held scorch marks, though he could recall no one speaking of fire in the room, and there were no candles, nor a fireplace anywhere in sight. The ceiling still held its mysterious twin stains directly above the bed which Claude had been told of early this morning.

Oliver was currently standing in the middle of the room.

"Ollie?" Claude asked nervously. "I don't see any bags… Are you sure no one brought them to you last night?"

Oliver snapped out of his reverie. "Hm? Oh, the bags…" He said vaguely, reaching out to take hold of the decorative bedpost on the end of the bed he stood next to. "I don't really think we have to worry about that." He said with a slight grin.

Claude frowned. "What?" He asked, looking behind him at the open door and the inviting corridor beyond. "But you said-"

"-Shut the door would you?" Oliver interrupted, his hand moving down the bed corner.

"Um… I don't-"

"I'll do it then." The Frenchman said irritably, waving his free hand impatiently at the open door behind Claude.

Claude looked over his shoulder when he heard the door slam, eyes wide in shock. "Ollie?" He asked, turning around and starting when he saw that Oliver was no longer in the centre of the room but less than a centimetre from his face with the blindfold he had been wearing removed, revealing Oliver's intact eyes shining with an inner fire.

"Good guess." Oliver said with a cruel grin, thrusting the piece of wood he had broken off the bed deep into Claude's stomach. "Not good enough, though." He whispered into Claude's ear as he twisted his improvised stake and pulled it out, covering Claude's mouth with his own and smothering his scream.

Oliver smiled into the kiss as he was covered with his companion's lifeblood. He pulled away and licked his lips, feeling a renewed strength filling his stolen body. "Thanks for the help." He said wickedly, leaning down to lick the small trail of blood running from the corner of Claude's mouth.

The fire sat back to enjoy the sight of Claude's eyes as the light slowly died in them, only moving to occasionally sample some of the warm blood that flowed freely from his wound.

Claude's corpse fell to the floor with an echoing thump and Oliver grinned victoriously, before looking at the door. Seconds later it opened, Enrique quickly stepping inside before closing and locking the door behind him.

The blond moved to Claude's dead body, looking it over disdainfully, before smiling at Oliver.

"Nicely done. Although..." he looked again at the body. "You could have been a _little_ more creative. He didn't have a very elaborate death."

Oliver sniffed. "He didn't _deserve_ an elaborate death. He was insignificant, and worthless. I doubt his presence will be noticed to have gone missing for quite a while."

Enrique smirked and held out his hand. "Does it really matter if he is?" He asked.

Oliver smiled and reached to take his counterpart's hand with his own blood-covered one. "Do we have enough to keep them here?" He asked as Enri pulled him up easily.

"Not quite. But close." Enrique said, releasing Oliver's hand and absent-mindedly licking the blood that had transferred to his own hand.

Oliver smirked as he watched Enrique, the beginnings of lust once again beginning to stoke the fire inside. "Your turn next, love"

_------_

Rei shuddered suddenly from where he sat, leaning against Kai. Something decidedly _wrong_ and _horrible_ had just occurred, but he didn't know what.

Kai looked at him, confused. "Rei? You cold?"

Rei shook his head and sighed. "No. Not cold. Just...got shivers...like someone was walking over my grave."

"ARR! You got shivers cos ye were shiverin' in yer boots! SHIVER ME TIMBERS!!" Tala yelled from across the room, now weaponless as Bryan had confiscated his weapon shortly after Tala had started threatening Rei with it. There were times when even Bryan didn't trust Tala not to do something...stupid.

Rei smiled at Tala's antics, the warmth and comfort of the room and the people in it working their magic to calm him and dampen the feeling that had struck him. "I'm ok."

He assured Kai sleepily as he settled back into his previous position. "Just fine." He sighed as his eyes began to close.

Rei looked up when Miguel walked into the room, holding the hand of a slightly disheveled Mathilda. "Hm?" He asked intelligently.

"Have any of you seen Claude?" The blonde asked with a smile. "We've been looking for him all over."

Tala coughed not-so-subtly. "I'll bet."

* * *

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